DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone
by Matt SH
Summary: Meet Azriel and Alexander Drake; two exceptional young wizards - Gifted, intelligent, powerful, perfect. Too good to be true? At first glance, yes. But for all that is right in their world, there is so much that can go horribly wrong...
1. Prologue

**A/N:** This is my first published story on ; it's one I've been working on here and there for a while now, and now that the story is finished being written, I'm posting it. I have plans to complete a whole series of seven stories chronicling each of the seven years that the books span.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

PROLOGUE: This Changes Everything

One can always wonder what were to happen if they were to take a moment in time - any moment - and change one little thing. It would, of course, be of interest to learn what the resulting ripple effect might have on the events that follow – it may make only a small difference, or it could have the biggest impact of all. We would never know if one actually HAD gone back to change that one moment in time, or whether mysterious forces had simply worked their will, twisting fate and altering the course of the world as the powers that be have seen fit.

As such it will remain a mystery the single moment that Tom Riddle stepped down the path he chose to take, descending into the depths of darkness before re-emerging as the darkest of them all – Lord Voldemort. Also will it remain unknown whether the prophecy surrounding his legacy and demise would have come to pass if he had not walked down that path into the realm of evil. All that is known, is that it DID come to pass, and the consequences of that one night in Godric's Hollow have echoed through the years, bringing with them the ingredients for one of the most epic battles of good against evil that the world has ever known.

This is where we return to our original point, which leads us to a question; WHAT IF? What if one little thing had changed? Would Voldemort still have come to be, and how different would he be from the monster we have come to know and despise? Would James and Lily Potter have met their premature demise? Would the Wizarding world be such a dark and foreboding place? We will never know...

And so begins a new journey, we will take control of a single thread and manipulate it – change it, then sit back to watch the outcome unfold. We shall start with a visit from an old family friend; a visit that originally never happened and was never meant to happen; but for argument's sake, we shall bring this one minor event to pass and watch the rest of the story unravel.

The story begins now...

It was a few weeks before the Dark Lord would eventually discover the hiding place of James and Lily Potter, along with their infant son Harry. The Dark Lord needed the boy gone in order for his plan of total domination of the magical world to succeed, but he desired a back-up plan in case things did not unfold to his liking.

As luck would have it, such a back-up plan did come to light, and the circumstances surrounding this back-up plan could not have been more opportune to him, for one of his loyal followers had come to him bearing the most terrific of news – a way for the Dark Lord to bring himself great power, such that would surely earn him the victory he so desperately deserved.

This was why Augustus Rookwood was on his way to visit Anneliese Malfoy at her home; the Rookwoods and the Malfoys had long been family friends, and it was crucial to the Dark Lord's back-up plan that he come into contact with her. The only trouble had been that he'd needed to travel halfway across the world, to the city of New York, in the United States of America. This was slightly troubling to him, as the magical world of the states was completely integrated into Muggle society, because it was otherwise a lot harder to cover up. Rookwood's trouble was that he was not familiar with Muggle society, which made it difficult for him to properly blend in with his surroundings.

It had also required a little effort to pinpoint Anneliese; the reason she had been so hard to find was because she had been excommunicated from the Malfoy family line for reasons kept private by her parents and her older brother, Lucius. Rookwood was not quite thrilled at having to associate with one known as a blood traitor, however he was forced to pretend nothing was out of the ordinary with his dropping by, and that he was simply glad to have a chance to catch up with an old friend.

Once he'd located Anneliese in New York, it had not been difficult to discover through some light research that she had married into a long-standing American pureblood family. She had been wedded to one Antoine Drake 4 years ago, and in this past year the couple had given birth to a set of twin boys. This much Rookwood had learned easily; the boys' names were documented as Azriel Lucius and Alexander Lucifer, but Rookwood had deemed this knowledge unnecessary and did not concern himself with further knowledge of the babies.

Drake Manor was easy enough to find; in a slightly less populated area of the city was a decently large house with a black iron fence. Magical protections had been hidden and scattered within the property boundaries, invisible from the outside thanks to a very potent glamour. As Rookwood ascended the front path toward the front door, he took note of all this, intending to report back to his lord should any part of it prove relevant.

He was unfamiliar with the muggle concept of a doorbell, and not recognising the purpose of the little button next to the door, he simply found it easier to knock. It was not long before a woman came to open the door – fairly young, with long platinum blonde hair and silver-tinged eyes, a pretty face and well-kept figure; this was Anneliese Drake, having given up her maiden name in favour of her husband's.

Anneliese was certainly surprised to see Rookwood on her doorstep, and stood in silent shock at the sight of her old friend until a baby cried out from another room within the house. She blinked, still stunned at the unexpected visitor, but after a moment she remembered herself and turned to face inside the house.

'Antoine, could you get that? It's probably Azriel; I hadn't had a chance to feed him yet,' she called out into the house. Clearly, someone must have responded to her request, because the crying soon stopped. Anneliese turned back to the man on her doorstep; 'I'm sorry, Augustus. Do come in.'

Anneliese stepped aside with an apologetic smile, holding the door open for him to come inside. He was sure to mask his grimace as he passed by her, and the door was closed behind him.

'Please, follow me to the living room. Make yourself comfortable.' Anneliese tried not to appear too nervous or excited to see her old friend as she played the humble hostess, leading him through the house to a large room with expensive furniture and grandiose ornamentation. 'Can I get you anything? A drink perhaps?'

'A Firewhisky would be good, thanks,' Rookwood replied with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Anneliese didn't notice this as she turned her attention to a blond man entering the room carrying a baby in his arms – this, Rookwood deduced, was Antoine, and the baby must have been Azriel, the one Anneliese spoke of before.

'Azriel okay? He didn't wake Alex did he?' Anneliese got up from her seat on the couch to check on her infant son personally. Rookwood heard this much of Anneliese's brief conversation with her husband before turning his attention to the room around him. He wondered how he would break the news he was to tell Anneliese – this was the most crucial part of the plan; in order for it to succeed, the Dark Lord had use for her children, and the reason had to do with their family heritage. What this was, Rookwood didn't know and he hadn't the nerve to ask, but he did know it was of the utmost importance nonetheless.

Rookwood was distracted from his musings when Anneliese returned with his drink. Anneliese sat back down moments later, and Rookwood forced himself into some idle chatter, catching up with his once old friend. Granted, Rookwood no longer considered her a friend to him, but in order for this to work, she had to believe he was. This was why he had to work up to what he needed to tell her, rather than just dropping the intended bombshell on her.

Before long, their conversation died down. Anneliese looked awkward before asking Rookwood; 'Why are you here? Tell me the truth; it mustn't look good for you back home to be associating with me after everything that's happened.'

This was the part Rookwood had been waiting for. Hoping he didn't sound eager, he took a breath and sighed, trying to play a part in order to sell his story.

'I've got something very important to tell you, too important to let the past get in the way of things. It concerns your sons.'

Anneliese went quiet as she listened to her friend spin his tale, and she felt genuine concern from Rookwood even when he was spinning his master's well-crafted lie.

'Why are we doing this again?' Alex Drake asked, annoyed at the situation he and his twin now found themselves in at age eleven.

'Because Mom said, that's why,' Azriel responded with a roll of his eyes, equally as annoyed as his twin.

'But what's wrong with the New York Academy? It's a perfectly good wizard school.'

'It was Mom's idea to send us to her old school. If Dad had a problem with it, he'd have objected.' Azriel and Alex had floo'd from the Ministry Of Magic branch in New York to the branch in London, and then floo'd from there all the way to King's Cross Station. The twins had been taken from their home in New York City purely in order to catch a train in London, which had the twins quite irate. Dragging their luggage behind them across Platform 9 ¾, they made their way through the crowd in order to get to an empty compartment on the train so their things could be put away.

'Alright, but what sort of a name is Hogwarts?' Alex handed his suitcases to one of the conductors, who were all busy loading bags and cages onto the train. Special care was taken with the boys' pets; Azriel was the owner of a black cat named Hades. Alex had opted instead for an eagle owl, by the name of Persephone. The owl hooted moodily at the handler as she was put inside the train; her feathers had gotten slightly ruffled and she was hooting in indignation.

'Okay, so you got me there,' Azriel replied dryly as he handed over his own luggage. Together, the twins boarded the train and moved as far to the back as they could, looking for an empty compartment. Having arrived at the station early the train hadn't started getting full yet, so it was relatively easy to find one.

The twins settled down in their compartment, getting comfortable on the seats. They had no idea what would be in store for them in the year coming; for it was an adventure they would never have dreamed would happen to them so soon.

Now, it's clear what you may be thinking. It is common knowledge that Lucius' wife Narcissa had sisters but nowhere in what you may know has shown that there is any evidence to suggest that Lucius had any siblings or whether any of them bore children. We know that names had been burnt off the tapestry in the Black family home; but no clear indication was given as to where in the family tree these holes are - so for argument's sake, we will say that Anneliese Malfoy was one of these names.

You need not be reminded that we're playing a game of 'What If?' however; we all know what has happened before, but it has not yet been made apparent how this new information will alter the story. It has yet to be seen how the Drake brothers will affect the course of the next seven years. There is one thing you can be certain of however:

_This changes everything._

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_Reviews are gladly appreciated; as this story is finished I will not accept suggestions for the direction of the narrative. I have a lot of plans of my own for this expanded universe of mine. ;)_


	2. Chapter 1: Of Secrets & Sortings

**A/N:** It would only be right to give you the first main chapter as well as the prologue to start off with, just so you can get a better sense of my original characters and how they begin integrating into the original storyline.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 1: Of Secrets & Sortings

The train ride was mostly uneventful for the Drake brothers; aside from a visit from the sweet cart (which they couldn't buy from because all they had on them was American wizard money) they were more or less left alone. Other students moved up and down the carriages, visiting each other in their separate compartments, but the Drakes took no notice as they discussed what they might expect when they arrived at Hogwarts, and what would happen when they got there.

Once or twice people looked into their compartment; the brothers didn't concern themselves to the attention they were receiving by passers-by. They didn't seem to notice this; although it must be said that they were quite a distinctive pair. The most immediate thing to be noticed about them was that they were identical twins. Each had an almost unnatural shade of platinum blond hair; Alex's was cropped short and neat, while Azriel had grown his out and was wearing it tied back into a ponytail with a thin black ribbon.

Their eyes were silver; a most unusual shade, one that made them all the more distinctive. These were the highlight of their faces; for they were sharp and angular, and all their other features accentuated the silver orbs. The boys were fairly tall and lean, as could be determined by their long legs.

It was getting dark when they were told that they were getting close to the school; so the boys changed into their new school robes. It was a bit tight trying to get out of the train after it stopped; a lot of people were trying to cram onto a small platform. Azriel and Alex tried as well as they could to stay together in all the hustle and bustle. A booming voice called out, catching the boys' attention.

'Firs' years! Firs' years over here!' An overly large bearded man was standing not far off, gesturing for the first years to come to him. Slightly wary, Azriel approached him, with Alex following closely behind. They found themselves being led down a narrow path down a steep hill; they were careful to not move too fast so they didn't fall over.

'Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec,' called the bearded man over his shoulder, 'jus' round this bend here.'

A lot of the new students made sounds of wonder when they saw a castle in the distance. Azriel wasn't so sure that was the school, and was looking around for another building. The only trouble was, he didn't see one which seemed to confirm that this castle was indeed the school. Alex had to make his brother focus on the path in front of him, because it suddenly widened out into a huge, deep lake. Azriel had almost walked straight into the water, having not paid attention to where he was going. Upon realising how close he'd come to the large body of water, Azriel jumped back in alarm.

'No more'n four to a boat!' The bearded man called, stopping everyone from walking. The Drake brothers looked closer at the water trying to see through the darkness; and sure enough, boats were floating on the shoreline waiting for passengers to board them. Azriel was extremely apprehensive being near the water, and Alex had to force him to climb into a boat. They were joined by a couple of female students, whom the brothers ignored as their boat travelled across the water. Azriel stared at the water around them, trying to relax.

What caught their attention before long was a set of tentacles emerging from the water. The bearded man cautioned them to be careful of the giant squid. Azriel went stiff as they waved around in the water, and he hoped with a vengeance that they didn't come too near the boat. They were approaching a cliff face, and the twins were beginning to wonder where exactly it was they were going.

'Heads down!' the bearded man sounded when they reached the cliff; it was then that the brothers saw the ivy curtain in the cliff face, so they bowed their heads as they passed under it. Behind the ivy was a dark tunnel; the Drake brothers strained to see in front of them.

The boats emerged in some sort of underground harbour; Azriel wasn't sure where exactly they were, but it was somewhat damp wherever it was. The students all unloaded from their boats onto the dock of rocks and pebbles. Azriel was glad to be out of the lake and back on solid ground; he allowed himself to relax as he got away from the water. The bearded man was checking on them as they climbed out of the boats.

'Oy, you there! Is this your toad?' Azriel looked over at the bearded man, who was holding out a toad. One boy called out, and collected the amphibian. That done, the bearded man turned and led them up a passageway cut into the rock and out onto a grassy area. They were right in front of the castle, as it turned out. Azriel was faintly surprised to find that it indeed was the school, as he had held onto his suspicion that there was another venue that had been hidden away from sight. They walked up a flight of stone steps, stopping right outside a large oak door. The Drake brothers half-pushed their way to the front of the group.

'Everyone here? You there, you still got yer toad?' The bearded man was addressing the boy from before, who'd lost his amphibian. The boy made a meek sound in response, so the bearded man turned to knock on the door with his oversized fist. Azriel counted three knocks. The door opened right away; on the other side of the door was a tall, black-haired wearing emerald robes. She had a stern look on her dace; clearly this was not a woman to be trifled with.

'The firs' years, Professor McGonagall,' said the bearded man.

'Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here.'

The door was opened wide allowing them entry; the Drake brothers slipped inside, feeling very small as they found themselves in an enormous hall; it would probably fit three quarters of the Drake family manor, which was no mean feat given the size of their house. The ceiling was so high as to be undetectable, and the staircase was about the most ornate thing either of the Drake brothers had ever seen.

There was clearly a large gathering of students in an adjacent hall; however, the first years were led into another room; a lot smaller, Azriel guessed this room to be some form of antechamber. The room was fairly crowded; the Drake brothers felt a tad uncomfortable being crammed up so close to the crowd of children.

'Welcome to Hogwarts,' said Professor McGonagall. 'The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory and spend free time in your house common-room.

'The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

'The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting. I shall return when we are ready for you; please wait quietly.' Speech finished, Professor McGonagall left the room.

'Sorting, huh?' Alex asked as soon as she'd left. 'Wonder what that could be?'

'I wouldn't know what to tell you. They'll probably read names off a list and throw us into houses randomly,' Azriel replied, straightening his robe and crossing his arms.

'Is that an American accent?' A girl with bushy hair and a slight case of bucktooth cut into their brief conversation. 'I've never met an American before.'

'Yeah; we're from New York,' Alex replied with a slight (and put-on) drawl. He looked mildly bored, but knowing his brother well, Azriel knew Alex was discomforted about the forwardness of this stranger.

'It was our mom's idea to send us to her old school. Otherwise, our dad was gonna send us to the New York Academy of Magic,' Azriel added.

'Oh, that sounds so _fascinating_!' The girl had a glint of excitement in her eye. 'Oh excuse me, I haven't introduced myself; how _rude_ of me! I'm Hermione Granger.' The girl smiled at them; her buck teeth drew attention to themselves as she offered her hand for a handshake. The Drake brothers shared a glance and each gingerly obliged her.

'I'm Azriel Drake, and this is my brother Alexander,' Azriel said flatly. 'Identical twins, obviously.'

'My brothers are identical twins.' A redhead invited himself into the conversation. 'They're third years. They told me the Sorting is supposed to be painful.' The redhead grimaced. 'I'm not sure whether to believe them or not. Oh yeah, I'm Ron Weasley!'

'Mom didn't mention anything about the Sorting, did she?' Alex asked his brother.

'I don't think so; I would've remembered if she did. I'd never even heard of it til that McGonagall woman mentioned it.'

'Unless Mom mentioned it in the morning; and I know you're not a morning person.' Alex added privately to his brother. He had a smirk on his face as he looked at his brother, who scowled.

'I wonder if we have to know some magic,' Hermione spoke up again. 'I've read all of our school books from cover to cover, and I've learned all sorts of different spells...' The Drake brothers tuned her out as the girl started to ramble. Azriel could tell she was nervous.

'I don't think we'll be needing any magic,' Alex muttered to Ron, who was looking annoyed at Hermione who was now muttering to anyone who'd listen about all the spells she'd learned.

Alex unexpectedly felt a chill go straight through him and was surprised to see a ghost emerging in front of him as it passed through. Turning around, he saw a number of them coming through the wall behind him. A few of the girls screamed in shock; the ghosts largely seemed to be ignoring the students as they conversed with each other.

A small, stout ghost dressed like a monk was speaking animatedly; 'Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance –'

'My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost – I say, what are you all doing here?' A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had noticed the first years; no one answered.

'New students!' said the Fat Friar, smiling down at them. The Drake brothers were wary of him. 'About to be Sorted, I suppose? Hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know.'

Azriel turned to speak to his brother but was cut off by a sharp voice; Professor McGonagall had returned. 'Move along now,' she said to the ghosts, who began to float through the wall into the next room. McGonagall directed her attention to the students.

'Now, form a line and follow me.' At her instructions, the Drake brothers fell into line with the other students. Not far ahead of him, Azriel could see Hermione, and further down was Ron, who was next to a boy with glasses, unruly black hair and a peculiar mark on his forehead. They were led out of the antechamber and into a much larger hall.

The room seemed almost massive; thousands of candles hovered in the air above four long rectangular tables. All the other students were sitting at these tables; the four houses each had their own, the Drake brothers could tell. Golden plates and goblets lined each table, as well as a fifth table at the other end of the hall. At this fifth table was the Hogwarts staff.

The first years were led over to this table, and stopped in front of it, facing the other students. Taking a good look at the room from this new vantage point, Azriel noted the ceiling; it was clearly a complex enchantment designed to look like the outside sky.

McGonagall bringing in a four-legged stool caught Azriel's attention; and he checked to make sure his brother had also taken notice. Sitting on the stool was a crusty old black wizard's hat. It looked patchy and faded, and unclean. Azriel shot his brother a look, as if to say 'what the heck is this?' There was a brief silence, which was broken by the sound of ripping fabric. The hat had split itself open like a mouth, and it began to sing in a slightly scratchy voice.

'_Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

_But don't judge on what you see,_

_I'll eat myself if you can find_

_A smarter hat than me._

_You can keep your bowlers black,_

_Your top hats sleek and tall,_

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_And I can cap them all._

_There's nothing hidden in your head_

_The Sorting Hat can't see,_

_So try me on and I will tell you_

_Where you ought to be._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where dwell the brave of heart,_

_Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

_Set Gryffindors apart;_

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where they are just and loyal,_

_Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

_And unafraid of toil;_

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

_If you've a ready mind,_

_Where those of wit and learning,_

_Will always find their kind;_

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_

_You'll make your real friends,_

_Those cunning folk use any means,_

_To achieve their ends._

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

_And don't get in a flap!_

_You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

_For I'm a Thinking Cap!_'

The hall burst into applause at the hat's song. Azriel and Alex just looked at each other with raised eyebrows as the hat fell silent.

'That's it? We have to wear a _hat_?' Alex muttered; McGonagall shot a quick glare at him, and the boy went quiet. The Drake brothers straightened themselves as McGonagall produced a long roll of parchment and stepped forward to address the students.

'When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,' she said; getting straight into it with 'Abbott, Hannah'.

The Drake brothers tuned out the first few names as the line began to shrink. These first names bore new Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, and at least one Slytherin and Gryffindor each. Before long, it was their turn.

'Drake, Alexander.' Azriel watched as his brother walked forward towards the stool and put on the hat. Alex sat for at least two minutes before the hat finally reached a decision. The students in the hall all seemed to be paying rapt attention to this Sorting ceremony as they awaited the hat's judgement with baited breath.

'SLYTHERIN!' the hat finally announced. Alex took the hat off and placed it on the stool. Down the line, Azriel could see Ron direct a minor glare at Alex as the boy passed.

'Drake, Azriel.' Azriel walked up to the hat and picked it up off the stool. He sat down, placing it on his head. It slipped down a little over his eyes and he had to re-adjust it so he could see the crowd and Alex joining the Slythern table.

'Didn't I just sort you?' the hat spoke into his ear. 'I don't give second opinions usually.'

_You sorted my brother,_ Azriel thought dryly.

'Ooh, that would explain it!' the hat chuckled. 'You and your brother have very similar minds. So complex... you did notice how difficult it was to sort him.'

_You can hear my thoughts?_ Azriel asked silently, shifting his eyes upward to look at the hat's brim. He felt self-conscious at all the eyes upon him.

'Of course! How else would I be able to see inside your head? By the way, I would find it easier to sort you with your brother to save me more hassle.'

_Okay, what was so difficult about my brother? _Azriel rolled his eyes and put on a bored look to mask his curiosity and apprehension.

'To make it quite simple, you could fit anywhere. You fit all the criteria of every house; one of the most rare and unusual things I have ever encountered! You possess the bravery of a Gryffindor, the sharp mind of a Ravenclaw, the loyalty of a Hufflepuff and the cunning of a Slytherin.'

_Alex is way sneakier than I am. By the sound of it Slytherin seems like a good choice for him._

'Ahh, but you're just as capable as your brother for deviance and underhandedness, which makes you perfect for Slytherin. Would you prefer to be elsewhere?'

_Well I could possibly do without the sibling rivalry, _Azriel snorted quietly,_ and Hufflepuff is a wimpy name, by the way._

'Hufflepuff, a wimpy name? Brave words indeed; if they were ever to know what you think of their house name – well with that in mind, I think you'll be a good choice for – GRYFFINDOR!' The last word was shouted out for the entire school to hear. Azriel put the hat back on its stool and looked over at his brother and shrugged as he approached the Gryffindor table, pretending he was completely nonchalant and unaffected by the conversation he'd had with the hat. He was aware of the glare Ron was sending in his direction; Azriel sat himself at one end of the table that was less crowded where it was harder for Ron's glare to reach him.

Azriel watched the rest of the sorting quietly; Hermione Granger became a Gryffindor, and was quick to join Azriel and the other Gryffindor down their end of the table. Azriel perked up in interest when it became Draco Malfoy's turn.

Draco Malfoy was remarkably similar in appearance to the Drake twins, but Azriel could not think of any particularly good reason other than coincidence why this would be so. A glance from Alex showed he too had the same odd sense of familiarity. Draco was swiftly sorted into Slytherin, and the boy sauntered over to his table, sitting a few seats down from Alex.

Azriel found it peculiar when the hall burst into whispers at the name 'Potter, Harry'. He could hear people down the table from him muttering.

'Potter, did she say?'

'_The_ Harry Potter?'

Looking over, Azriel could see it was the black haired boy with the mark on his forehead. Clearly from the way people were fervently muttering amongst themselves, there was something special about Harry Potter, but Azriel had never heard the name before and was completely in the dark as to his specialty. It annoyed him somewhat to be out of the loop.

Potter was announced to be a Gryffindor, and the rest of Gryffindor table roared. This, Azriel found even more annoying than the whispers given how close to the noise he was.

'We got Potter! We got Potter!' came the yell from a couple of red-haired twins – presumably the twin brothers that Ron had mentioned before. Before long, Ron himself was sorted into Gryffindor, and sat next to the Potter boy, looking flushed. He seemed to remember his snap dislike and mistrust for Azriel though, as he steadfastly refused to acknowledge the blond's presence at the table.

Azriel turned his attention to the staff table, now that he could see it properly. The half-giant man that had led them to the castle was sitting at one end of the table, with various teachers sitting along the length of the table. In the centre was a chair much grander than the others – this must belong to the headmaster, who was a wizened old man with a long white beard and half-moon spectacles.

As the sorting finished, McGonagall went to join her fellow staff at the staff table; her seat was next to the headmaster, who stood up to address the students.

'Welcome!' he said. 'Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!'

Azriel blinked, his face blank. He raised an eyebrow and met his brother's eye from across the hall. Alex silently agreed that the old man seemed a bit mad. Just then, the plates were magically filling up with food so Azriel chose from the assortment of meats and vegetables, filling his plate and beginning to eat.

'That does look good,' said a slightly sad voice. Azriel looked up to see the ruff-wearing ghost watching Harry cut up a steak.

'Can't you -' Harry began to speak, but was cut off by the ghost.

'I haven't eaten for almost 500 years; I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower.'

'I know who you are!' Ron piped up. 'My brothers told me about you – you're Nearly Headless Nick!'

'I would _prefer_ you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy –' the ghost began stiffly, but Azriel cut him off.

'Nearly headless? How come? It looks pretty securely attached from where I'm sitting.' Ron shot him a glare as if he was stupid; Azriel ignored him.

'Like _this_,' the ghost said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge; Azriel winced at the slight wet sound of the phantom flesh separating. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. Looking pleased at the stunned look at some of the students' faces, Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck.

'So – new Gryffindors!' The ghost's mood had improved drastically now that he'd instilled a little fear and wonder in the new students. 'I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindor have never gone so long without winning. Slytherin have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable – he's the Slytherin ghost.'

Azriel looked over; a ghost covered in silvery blood was sitting at the Slytherin table; right next to Draco, who did not look too pleased at this arrangement. The facial expression was not too dissimilar from what Alex might have made if put in the same position.

'How did he get covered in blood?' asked a sandy blond-haired boy with great interest.

'Something tells me we don't really want to know.' Azriel said flatly.

'You have a point there my boy, and I never asked.' Nearly Headless Nick replied, delicately.

The conversation around the table turned to more mundane subjects, so Azriel focused on finishing his dinner. When the students had eaten as much as they could, the dinner courses were cleared from the table only to be replaced with a wide variety of desserts.

Students started talking about their families; the sandy haired boy (whom Azriel learned was called Seamus) told of his half-blood status. Neville Longbottom (who was the boy with the toad) was raised by his witch grandmother but was suspected to be muggle until he got his Hogwarts letter. Seamus asked Azriel about his heritage.

'My brother Alex and I are pureblood. The Drake family, on our dad's side is one of the richest and most powerful wizard families in the entire USA, although I really don't like to brag.' Ron scoffed, but Azriel ignored this.

'I don't actually know too much about my mother's family, other than they were a pretty big pureblood family in these parts. I don't know why, but she doesn't like to talk about them.'

The others wanted to know more about his family, so Azriel filled them in on some of the smaller details of his family life when Harry made a noise of pain. Azriel glanced over, but nothing seemed to have happened to the boy; nothing Azriel could tell anyway. He chalked it up to a stomach ache – the boy didn't appear to have had a decent meal in a while. Harry was talking to yet another redhead - clearly another brother of Ron's - and it seemed they were discussing the teachers. Azriel looked up to see a black-robed teacher with a hooked nose and sallow skin glaring spitfire in Harry's direction. Azriel was intrigued, but he brushed this off as the headmaster stood once again to talk to the students. The hall fell silent.

'Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start of term notices to give you.

'First years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well.'

Azriel detected a twinkle in the headmaster's eye which suggested this comment was meant to be taken in good humour. Judging by the innocent look Ron's twin brothers suddenly took, Azriel guess this comment was aimed at them.

'I have also been asked by Mr Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

'Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.

'And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death.'

Azriel raised an eyebrow at this comment. The headmaster was only serving to make himself seem more peculiar – Azriel wasn't sure whether this was just a character flaw or whether it was a conscious effort on the headmaster's part.

'And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!' the Headmaster finished. The other teachers' smiles suddenly seemed forced. Azriel blinked at the Headmaster's suggestion.

'I don't sing.' Azriel muttered under his breath. A few students nearby cast him odd looks as they prepared to sing.

The headmaster flicked his wand and out came a long golden ribbon which twisted over itself to form the words to the school song. Many students around Azriel began to sing random tunes; the noise was quite cacophonous, but Azriel stoically refused to open his mouth. Looking across the room, Alex was doing much the same. However, not many Slytherins were singing so Alex didn't look so out of place.

Azriel was relieved when the singing finally stopped – held up only by Ron's twin brothers singing a funeral dirge very slowly. The headmaster conducted their last few lines, and he was the one who clapped the loudest afterwards.

'Ah, music,' he said, wiping his eyes. 'A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!'

The Gryffindor first years followed the redhead prefect through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall and up the marble staircase. Azriel could see Alex being led with the Slytherins down to the dungeons.

It seemed that it was taking an age for them to ascend the several staircases and traverse multiple hallways. Azriel was hoping they were nearly there when their progress was halted. Azriel saw a bundle of walking sticks floating in the air. The prefect took a step forward, only for the sticks to begin hurling themselves at him. Azriel raised an eyebrow in slight amusement.

'Peeves,' the prefect whispered to the first years. 'A Poltergeist.' He raised his voice, 'Peeves – show yourself.' A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered.

'Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?' There was a pop and a little man with wicked dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.

'Oooooooh!' he said, with an evil cackle. 'Ickle Firsties! What fun!'

'I guess this is what a Cheshire cat would look like, if it was human and had bad hair,' Azriel deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest. The Poltergeist must have been annoyed that someone had talked back to him, as he swooped at Azriel, who calmly sidestepped the advance.

'Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!' barked the prefect. Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armour as he passed.

'You want to watch out for Peeves,' said the prefect with a pointed glare at Azriel as they set off again. 'The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. Here we are.'

At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink dress. Azriel eyed the colour of the dress with distaste.

'Password?' she said.

'Caput Draconis,' said the prefect, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it – Neville needed a leg up – and found themselves in the Gryffindor common-room, a cosy, round room full of squashy armchairs.

The prefect directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase – they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: six four-posters hung with deep-red velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. The other boys began to change for bed, too tired to talk much.

Azriel changed quietly along with the others, and put some of his clothes away in his personal armoire ready for tomorrow. The other students must have been a little too tired to notice when Azriel removed three holsters from his belt. The first of these contained his wand – oak, 8.5 inches. Manticore fur core. Extremely well-balanced wand that could easily handle more difficult magic. Alex had a matching wand, only with maple wood instead of oak.

The second and third holsters housed a pair of long, thin Sai daggers. A gift from his father, who had begun training Azriel on how to use them despite his relatively young age, and he wore them wherever he went, concealed under his robes or a long black leather duster, whenever he was in muggle clothing. Again, Alex had a matching pair and was also being trained by the Drake patriarch in their use along with his twin.

Daggers and wand put away, Azriel climbed into his four-poster bed and drew the curtains. He lay in bed awake for about ten minutes waiting for his fellow students to fall asleep. When he was sure it was quiet, he reached out with his mind for Alex.

This was a secret trick the Drake twins had; one known only by their family back home. Azriel and Alex had a special connection as twins which manifested itself as a telepathic link; one that allowed them to read the other's feelings, to know where the other was at all times, and most importantly, to hear each other's thoughts.

'Alex, are you there?' Azriel thought, straining to make the connection since he was not used to how far away he was from his brother.

_I'm here, bro. Where's your dorm?_

'Up in one of the towers. How's the dungeon, cold?'

_You'd be surprised. There's actually some sort of warming spell over the common-room and the dorms, so it's not so bad down here._

'So, what do you think of your classmates?'

_They're all purebloods like us – but they're all brats at the same time. I'm not sure I'm gonna make friends too easily here._

'How sad.' Azriel's thoughts were not all that sympathetic, but more of a teasing jibe. 'I already have at least one enemy here; that redhead. Ron? He doesn't seem to like me too much. Probably jealous 'cause I'm rich and handsome and he's not.'

_Don't flatter yourself. Although I DO admit freckles aren't exactly attractive – and it doesn't look like he has a patch of bare skin anywhere on his face._

'And the headmaster? What was his name – Dumbledore?'

_He's mad. There's no other word that describes him. And you know how we're like with first impressions – we're usually right._

'Key word, usually.' Azriel scratched his nose, listening to the others breathing. 'What's up with the third floor corridor being closed?'

_Your guess is as good as mine. Must be something dangerous there, if Dumbledore's giving us death warnings._

'You curious to know what's in there?'

_I think I am, actually. It could be something majorly important, or maybe it's not. Either way, it doesn't sound like Dumbledore wants anyone to get too close to whatever it is._

'That makes me think it could possibly be something powerful. What could it hurt to look into it a little?'

_I don't know, bro. We're here for school; not to go running off on adventures. We have a whole lifetime for that once we're Aurors._

'Lemme get this straight; you're curious yet you don't want to stick your fingers in. What a lame Auror you'd make.' Azriel stifled a chuckle in case any of his dorm-mates were still awake.

_I'm serious Az, we should drop the idea for now – we only just GOT here. Maybe we'll find out more about it on our own during the year. I don't think we should concern ourselves with this anyway, I'm sure Dumbledore knows what he's doing with whatever it is._

'Whatever. Goodnight bro.'

'_Night._

The Drake brothers broke the connection and settled down in their respective beds to sleep for the night. They began classes soon, and they needed to be prepared for whatever was ahead.

They had no idea just what was in store for them in the months to come.

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_Don't forget to review if you like the story so far!_


	3. Chapter 2: Proceed With Caution

**A/N:** This chapter should show you a little more of the Drake brothers' personalities, and how they react and relate to their fellow students; particularly the main Gryffindor trio as well as the Slytherins.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 2: Proceed With Caution

'There, look.'

'Where?'

'Next to the tall kid with the red hair.'

'Wearing the glasses?'

'Did you see his face?'

'Did you see his scar?'

All morning the whispers had been going non-stop. Azriel couldn't get away from all the whispers about Harry Potter. Students would queue up outside classrooms and double back through the corridors just so they could gawk. It was hard enough trying to concentrate on finding all his classrooms without having all these voices buzzing in his ears.

Harry Potter was being treated more like a deity than a celebrity, which really annoyed Azriel because surely the boy couldn't be _that_ famous? The name meant nothing in America, so Azriel felt severely left out that he did not know what was so special about Potter.

'I really do not have time for this,' Azriel muttered darkly on the second day of classes; as he was running late for Charms from having to cut through the almost endless throng of students crowding the halls. He'd quickly landed on the bad side of Filch, the caretaker, for trying to push his way through other students on his way through a corridor on the second floor; someone had knocked into a coat of armour and caused it to fall apart. Filch had seen Azriel walking away from the armour, and Filch immediately blamed him for it, deaf to Azriel's protests of innocence.

During the week, Azriel had asked a few students what Potter was famous for, only to be met with blank looks of disbelief; as though the answer should have been the most obvious thing in the world. Azriel didn't bother trying to explain that he wasn't from this part of the world even with his clearly-not-British accent, because he suspected people weren't willing to listen.

Hermione was the only one willing to offer an explanation, during breakfast on Friday at the end of the first week.

'I've read about it, of course, but Harry was supposed to have defeated a dark wizard when he was only a baby. His lightening-bolt scar was a result of the event. The books I've read didn't mention the name of the dark wizard, only referring to him as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Anyway, what's so curious about it is that his parents were killed, only the baby survived.'

'How could a baby possibly have done that?' Azriel was sceptical at best.

'That's the thing. It seems highly improbable that a baby could withstand the attack of any wizard, light or dark. And yet somehow, Harry did. It's all very mysterious, and oh so fascinating! I wonder what happened back then.' Hermione had gotten wrapped up in her musings, so Azriel left her alone to finish his breakfast and check his schedule for the day.

That morning, they had History of Magic. It was easily the most boring class Azriel had ever taken, and this was mainly due to the teacher, Professor Binns. The teacher was old and dull; not helped by the fact that he was a ghost. Azriel guessed he was a good choice for a history teacher though, probably being as old as the history he taught.

What slightly irritated Azriel about this subject was that most of their subject matter dealt with English wizard history rather than American wizard history, but he supposed since he was in English territory this was not surprising. His only hope was that he was on equal ground with the other students.

History lessons mainly involved taking notes and listening to Professor Binns drone on and on about various subjects that held little relevance or importance that Azriel could determine.

To this point, Transfiguration was turning out to be Azriel's favourite lesson. Azriel was right about McGonagall being a teacher you wouldn't want to cross; from the first lesson she was strict and focused on her class, not allowing for any nonsense in her classroom, which Azriel liked because it meant he could concentrate better on learning.

McGonagall showed off her own Transfiguration ability to the class in their first lesson; it looked impressive enough when she turned her desk into a pig and back again, but Azriel was sure that was not the limit of what she was capable of. The rest of the lesson, she had them writing a complicated series of notes before assigning them their first transfiguration assignment – turning a matchstick into a needle.

It turned out to be a lot more difficult than Azriel was expecting; but by the end of the lesson Azriel had successfully managed to turn his matchstick into a needle. The eye was a little lopsided, but otherwise it was a solid effort. Only one other student had made any progress at all; it was Hermione, which Azriel found unsurprising. She was slightly disappointed to learn that Azriel was just that tiny bit faster in succeeding, but she was smiling again when McGonagall publicly praised her work to the class, and awarded her five house points along with a well-concealed smile.

After class, McGonagall told him in private that his first transfiguration attempt was some of the most remarkable bit of magic she'd ever seen coming from a novice, and told him that she did not make his results known in order not to discourage the rest of the class from achieving their best. He too received five house points for his effort and a smile; something he was sure McGonagall did not do often.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was an interesting class; once you got past the garlic smell of the room and of Professor Quirrell's turban. Quirrell seemed to know the course material well, and he was a decent teacher, but Azriel questioned whether the professor would be effective in a proper danger situation due to Quirrell's timid nature and his seemingly paranoid and overdone efforts to protect himself from harm. Not to mention Azriel quickly became irritated by the professor's frequent stutter. Azriel was not surprised to learn that Alex felt quite the same.

It was a Friday when the Drake brothers finally got a chance to see each other outside of meal times. A few seats down from Azriel at the breakfast table, Potter was asking Ron what they had this morning.

'Double Potions with the Slytherins,' said Ron. 'Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favours them – we'll be able to see if it's true.'

Azriel reached out telepathically to his brother, who looked up from his own meal to meet Azriel's eye.

'Heads up, but we have potions with you this morning.' Azriel schooled his face to maintain his casual appearance at the table.

_I know; I checked the timetable this morning. You might wanna be careful about Snape; he doesn't seem to take to anyone outside his house, from what I hear. He's also not a very friendly guy._

'Gotcha.' Azriel finished his breakfast then quickly went back to Gryffindor Tower to retrieve his book bag and his potions textbook. He came back to meet up with Alex, just as the mail came in. Alex's owl Persephone flew to her owner, dropping a letter at the Slytherin table. Knowing there was no-one else it could be from, Azriel walked over to see what their parents had written. Alex had already opened the letter and begun scanning it when Azriel got there.

'Mom wants us to write back and tell her how we're getting on, obviously,' Alex said with a slight grin while Azriel read the letter over his shoulder. 'Ahn says hi as well.' 'Ahn' referred to Anyanka, the Drake brothers' younger sister, who would be starting at the New York Academy next year when she turned eleven.

Alex stowed the letter in his book bag, then the Drake twins left the Great Hall, Alex leading Azriel down to the potions classroom in the dungeons. It was cold there; Alex explained that the warming charm did not extend past the Slytherin dorm, which he found quite bothersome.

Snape started the lesson by taking the class register. He paused briefly at the Drake twins, eyeing each of them respectively before moving on. He stopped again when he reached Potter's name, which Azriel knew he would. Azriel was agitated again at the attention Potter received.

'Ah yes,' he said softly. 'Harry Potter. Our new – _celebrity._' Draco and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their hands. Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were dark, cold and empty like unlit tunnels.

'You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making,' he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word – like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. 'As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses ... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.'

Azriel and Alex glanced at each other. Snape was quickly living up to his reputation as someone not to be taken lightly. Snape again broke the silence.

'Potter!' said Snape suddenly. 'What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?'

Potter looked completely clueless. Hermione's hand shot into the air, and Azriel rolled his eyes. She wasn't the one being asked the question, so as far as Azriel was concerned, she should leave this one alone.

'I don't know, sir,' said Potter. Snape's lips curled into a sneer, and he ignored Hermione's hand.

'Tut, tut – fame clearly isn't everything.' Snape walked over to Potter's desk, looking quite oppressive as he towered over the boy. 'Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?

Again, Potter didn't know the answer. Snape was getting into this; he tried yet another question. For a third time, Potter was clueless and Azriel was beginning to wonder how he could call himself a wizard if he didn't even know this stuff. From what he knew from Hermione, Potter's parents were wizards before they died. Surely, Potter was raised by other magical relatives who would have at least taught him something.

Hermione, meanwhile, was getting too eager to answer Snape's questions as she resorted to standing up with her hand stretched toward the ceiling. Potter suggested Snape get the answers he wanted from Hermione; Snape was not amused. Snape then gave Potter the answers to his questions, and made the class write this information down. Potter had a point taken off of Gryffindor for his 'cheek', as Snape put it.

For most of the Gryffindors, the mood of the class was sour. For Azriel, it wasn't so bad. Snape had paired off the students, and Azriel had been put together with his brother. They were to brew a potion that could cure boils. With his textbook open showing the recipe for the potion, Azriel got to work collecting the ingredients they needed for their potion while Alex got the fire lit underneath the cauldron.

Alex was measuring dried nettles when he heard a noise of exasperation from the pair next to him. Seamus and Neville were working together, and Neville had accidentally knocked over the dried nettles he was supposed to be measuring, and it had gotten mixed up in the powdered snake fangs Seamus had just crushed. Snape had been quick to criticise Neville for this, which left the boy embarrassed and upset. Trusting Alex not to mess up their potion, Azriel stepped over to lend assistance.

'Here; Steady your hand, Neville.' Azriel helped Neville measure out the correct amount of nettles, with Azriel holding Neville's shaking arm steady. Once that was done, Azriel gave Seamus his and Alex's leftover snake fangs, so he could crush a fresh batch.

Snape called the class's attention to Draco's potion, whom he was showing off how well Draco had stewed his horned slugs. Azriel didn't think Draco had done that great a job actually, but he was getting the idea that Draco was heavily in Snape's favour, so he didn't comment on it. Azriel turned back to his own potion when he noticed out the corner of his eye Neville about to make a huge mistake.

'Neville, not yet –' Azriel began, but it was too late. Neville had put porcupine quills into the cauldron before he was meant to, and instantly, the potion began to hiss loudly. Azriel and Alex both climbed onto their stools quickly as the cauldron melted into a twisted blob and the potion spread everywhere, burning holes in people's shoes like acid. Neville had unfortunately suffered the most from the mis-brewed potion, as he was soon covered with angry red boils that were clearly causing him pain. Snape was on him instantly.

'Idiot boy!' snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with a wave of his wand. 'I suppose you added the porcupine quills _before_ taking the cauldron off the fire?' Then at Seamus, he snapped, 'Take him up to the hospital wing.' Seamus complied without incident. Potter and Ron were next on Snape's hit-list, having been working on Seamus and Neville's other side.

'You – Potter – why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor.' Potter opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. Azriel assumed it had something to do with Ron.

'Professor, I tried to stop Neville from adding the quills,' Azriel spoke up. 'It was too late when I noticed, though.'

'Do not tell me stories to cover for your housemate's foolishness, Drake. Another point from –'

'It's not a story, sir. I was busy stewing the horned slugs so I couldn't have done anything, but my brother did try to prevent the accident.' Alex had stepped in; Snape studied the Drake brothers curiously, but declined from taking off the house points he was about to.

The Drake brothers had different subjects for the rest of the morning; Alex went outside to the Greenhouses for Herbology while Azriel had Transfiguration on the first floor. At lunch time, they met up in the Entrance Hall before entering the Great Hall for lunch.

'You really didn't have to stand up for me, back there.' Azriel turned to face his brother, continuing to walk backwards.

'Why wouldn't I defend you? You're my brother; whether or not I'm standing up to my head of house just to do so should be irrelevant.' Alex walked over to the Slytherin table.

'I get the impression you're the _only_ person from your house that would do such anything for someone outside of Slytherin.' Azriel followed his brother over to the Slytherin table, and the twins sat down together. They began to fill their plates. Next to Azriel, Crabbe and Goyle were eating noisily and messily, with plates overfilled with food.

'Just what do you think _you're_ doing here, Gryffindor?' A sneering voice spoke out from across the table. Draco had arrived, along with Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini who had been walking with him.

'What does it look like I'm doing?' Azriel replied with a roll of his eyes. He took a bite from a chicken sandwich on his plate.

'I'd say you were trespassing on _our_ table.' Draco's tone was laced with malice; Azriel looked up from his food with an innocent look on his face.

'Really? I thought I was eating lunch with my _brother_,' Azriel replied with nonchalance. His next words were challenging. 'You gotta problem with that?'

'Go sit at your own table. We don't need Gryffindor filth like you soiling ours.'

'You wanna run that by me again, Slytherin?' Azriel glanced at Draco with a half-smile.

'You heard what I said,' Draco spat. 'Now move, before I hex you.'

'You wouldn't,' Alex said lightly, breaking out into a full grin. He eyed Draco with amusement as he ate his own food. This didn't sit very well with the other blond.

'Crabbe, deal with this Gryffindor punk, won't you?' Draco hissed. Crabbe was slow to respond, but he looked up at the boy and nodded.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you,' Alex said airily. Azriel had already taken note of the threat Crabbe was now supposed to pose to him.

'And why shouldn't I?' Crabbe tried to smirk, but it looked more like an odd grimace.

'Because,' Azriel began, with his eyes glittering wickedly. He was staring directly at Draco as he spoke. 'One day you'll be sitting here eating breakfast, or dinner, or even lunch like you are now. And someone will reach behind your head like so.'

To demonstrate, he put his hand on the back of Crabbe's head. Crabbe was slow to realise what was about to happen.

'And then, they're going to push you face-first into your food, much like I'm about to do to Munchies over here.' Azriel did exactly that, and Crabbe's face was stuffed with food, muffling the protest he was about to make.

'And to think,' Alex chuckled, 'if you'd been anyone else, you'd have drawn your wand on him before he even got _close_ to getting away with that stunt he just pulled.'

'Just who do you think you are, Gryffindor?' Draco asked, venomously, glaring at the Gryffindor.

'Wouldn't you like to know?' Azriel grinned darkly. Draco seemed mildly put out that Azriel was giving back as good as he got, and said nothing.

'To think I could have been a Slytherin myself,' Azriel sighed.

'You'd certainly fit in,' Blaise said. Draco glared at him; clearly this was something he'd prefer not to admit.

'I was actually gonna be put here first, because Alex was,' Azriel said to Blaise, who seemed to accept this as logical. Pansy, on the other hand, who had til this point glared silently at the Gryffindor wasn't accepting this.

'He doesn't belong here; he's probably got no respect for blood purity now he's been hanging around all those filthy half-breeds and mudblo- '

Pansy never finished her sentence because Azriel stood up abruptly and brandished his wand, pointing it at her face.

'Don't you dare attempt to finish that sentence.' Azriel hissed, eyes prickling with anger. Draco clearly sensed this, as he backed off. Pansy was also affected by Azriel's sharp change in attitude, and decided she didn't really want to provoke any further response, so she swallowed and kept quiet.

'Is there a problem here?' Professor McGonagall had taken notice of the incident and had come to break it up. She did not look amused at the proceedings.

'It's fine, Professor,' Azriel muttered, lowering his wand but continuing to glare daggers in Pansy's direction. Pansy breathed a sigh of relief as the threat was eliminated.

'Very well. Five points from Slytherin for provoking another student, Parkinson.' Pansy remained silent. 'As for you, Mr Drake, five points from Gryffindor for losing your temper. Be thankful it's not more.' Professor McGonagall eyed the Slytherins in distaste as they stalked off to sit further down the table. Crabbe and Goyle had already forgotten the incident that had just taken place and resumed sloppily eating their lunch as though nothing had even happened. Alex snorted in disgust watching them eat.

No other Slytherins tried to bother them for the rest of lunchtime. The Drake brothers ate quietly, their mood dampened by the events of the past half an hour. A few owls arrived with mail; Persephone looked disgruntled at having to carry two wizard newspapers in one bundle, as it weighed her down. Alex offered her some food as an apology as he untied the papers from her leg. Persephone hooted in acceptance and nipped his finger before flying away to nap in the owlery.

Azriel immediately grabbed the New York Wizard Times, flipping over to the Sport section to catch up on what his and Alex's Quidditch team, the New York Black Widows, were up to. Alex read over Azriel's shoulder, before picking up the local paper, The Daily Prophet, and started reading. The twins were silent as they read their respective papers, until a small article caught Alex's eye and he pointed it out.

'Hey Az, look at this!' Azriel looked over from his newspaper to read what his brother was pointing at.

_GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST_

_Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown._

_Gringotts' goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day._

'_But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you,' said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.'_

'So, what do you think?' Alex asked, looking over at his brother, who had closed and folded the American newspaper.

'It is kinda strange. Remember, there were still reporters buzzing around a couple weeks ago when we went there to exchange currency? They didn't mention anything about the vaults at the time; only that there was an attempted robbery. I wonder, does it have anything to do with what's going on here?' Azriel pondered.

'They seem pretty separate to me. I mean, there's nothing in that article that links anything here at Hogwarts to the robbery attempt' Alex replied. 'Why, do you think there's a connection?'

'Look at it this way. Someone tried to rob the wizard bank. Surely it had to have been something that was of great value or the would-be thieves wouldn't be after it. Fast forward to first week of term, when Dumbledore was telling us a certain corridor was forbidden – no explanation or reasons given, which is extremely odd. Now, my theory was at the start of the week was that something was being protected there; something valuable enough that it had to be kept secret. The timing could just be coincidental of course, but it's also a little too convenient.' Azriel explained.

'Convenient? Why would something be moved from a wizard's bank - which need I remind you is one of the most secure places in the world - to a school? I get that this place wouldn't be the most obvious location for safe-keeping, but what purpose could it serve?'

'You tell me,' Azriel sighed. 'Whatever it is, we should just forget about it for now. We're supposed to be having our flying lessons sometime soon, and we need to keep our heads clear.'

'You were the one who originally wanted to look into this thing, Az.' Alex reminded with a wry smile.

'I know that, I'm just saying let's not think about that right _now_. C'mon, let's go. We'll put these papers away and read them properly later. I've got homework to finish anyway.' Azriel finished his lunch and left the table, followed by a few of the other Gryffindors.

'Why were you sitting at the Slytherin table?' Lavender Brown asked shrilly as soon as she was within earshot. Parvati Patil was glaring at him as though he was some kind of traitor, and Seamus was looking at him in confusion.

'Has everyone forgotten that I have a brother in Slytherin?' Azriel snapped, stopping to face the others with his arms crossed, glaring right back at them. 'Am I not allowed to eat lunch with my own brother?'

'But it's Slytherin!' Parvati protested.

'But nothing. He's my _brother_.' Azriel said with finality. 'End of story.' Azriel stalked off, his mood worsened.

By Thursday, Azriel was completely sick of Gryffindors constantly harassing him for 'fraternising with the Slytherins' every time he spent mealtimes with his brother, who didn't appear to be suffering at all from the wrath of his Slytherin housemates. Azriel's first run-in with Draco and the other first-year Slytherins seemed to have been enough that the greater population of the house left him alone when he was at their table.

The day of their first flying lesson had finally arrived, so Azriel's mind was taken off his frustration with his house. As it turned out, Gryffindor and Slytherin would be learning together, so the Drake brothers went outside to the Quidditch pitch together, silently challenging anyone who wanted to tell them to separate.

A lot of the pureblood and half-blood students were talking to each other about their flight experiences; Seamus seemed to have been flying on broomsticks all his life, as did Draco who had wild stories about avoiding muggles while in flight. Azriel and Alex admitted they'd never been on a real broomstick; only toys when they were little. This was mostly because of how congested an area New York was, and the risk for a child was too great. They had been promised broomsticks for their 12th birthday though, but wouldn't give details at to what broom they might get.

Over 20 broomsticks were lined up neatly on the lawn outside. The Drake brothers weren't sure what to expect; they had heard that some of the brooms were known to be temperamental – vibrating if you flew too high, or flying slightly off-centre so you couldn't go in a straight line. Azriel was hoping he got one of the good ones. Their teacher, Madam Hooch, arrived. She had short, grey hair and yellow eyes like a hawk.

'Well, what are you all waiting for?' she barked. 'Everyone stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up.' Azriel and Alex stood side by side next to a couple of the brooms. They looked to be in decent condition; hopefully a good sign.

'Stick out your right hand over your broom,' called Madam Hooch at the front, 'and say "Up!"'

'UP!' Everyone called. Only a few brooms leapt into the students' hands. Potter's did, as did Draco's. Alex's broom shot up so fast it almost clipped his nose as it tried to rise past the level of his outstretched hand; in comparison, Azriel's took a few seconds to respond but rose cleanly to meet his hand.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end, and walked up and down the rows correcting their grips. The Drakes weren't surprised to find that Draco had been doing it wrong for years.

'Now, when I blow my whistle, you kick off from the ground, hard,' said Madam Hooch. 'Keep your brooms steady, rise a few feet and then come straight back down by leaning forwards slightly. On my whistle – three – two –'

But Neville, nervous and jumpy and frightened of being left on the ground, pushed off hard before the whistle had touched Madam Hooch's lips.

'Come back, boy!' she shouted, but Neville was rising straight up like a cork shot out of a bottle – twelve feet – twenty feet. His scared white face looked down at the rapidly growing distance from the ground; Neville gasped, slipped sideways off his broom and –

WHAM – a thud and a nasty crack and Neville lay face down on the grass in a heap. His broomstick was still rising higher and higher and started to drift lazily towards the forbidden forest and out of sight. Madam Hooch was quick to check over Neville, and Azriel overheard her muttering about a broken wrist; she helped him up then addressed the class.

'None of you is to move while I take this boy to the hospital wing! You leave those brooms where they are or you'll be out of Hogwarts before you can say "Quidditch".' As soon as Madam Hooch and Neville walked away, Draco opened his mouth.

'Did you see his face, the great lump?' The other Slytherins except Alex joined in.

'Shut up, Malfoy,' snapped Parvati.

'Ooh, sticking up for Longbottom?' Pansy sneered.

'No, looking after our own,' Azriel replied. Pansy, not having forgotten last week's encounter, fell silent as she watched him. Draco, meanwhile, had spotted an object lying on the ground – it was a Remembrall Azriel remembered Neville showing off at breakfast that morning.

'Give that here, Malfoy,' said Potter quietly. Everyone stopped talking to watch; Draco smiled nastily which gave Azriel a bad feeling.

'I think I'll leave it somewhere for Longbottom to collect – how about – up a tree?' Draco leapt onto his broom and took off, with Alex protesting loudly after him. Potter did the same; Azriel was aggravated at the way the situation was escalating.

The crowd could only watch as Potter and Draco faced each other up in the air. Potter suddenly advanced on Draco, who barely dodged the assault. Draco tossed the Remembrall into the air and dived back to the ground. Potter went after the Remembrall, almost colliding with the ground before snatching the Remembrall from the air and toppling gently off the broom onto the ground. The moment was almost surreal – but also short-lived.

'HARRY POTTER!' McGonagall had arrived and she looked furious. '_Never_ – in all my time at Hogwarts – how _dare_ you – might have broken your neck -'

Other students tried to protest but McGonagall ordered their silence. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle all looked disgustingly pleased with themselves; all Azriel could do was glare threateningly at them. Draco's smile faltered but didn't disappear as McGonagall led Potter away.

'That was disgusting, you know that Malfoy?' Azriel hissed, advancing on the Slytherin trio.

'What's it to you Drake? Got rid of Potter didn't I?' Draco glared to match Azriel's expression.

'You think that's funny, do you? What would you do if it were you?' Azriel challenged.

'I wouldn't be stupid enough to get caught.' Draco said haughtily; puffing his chest out pompously.

'Problem. You have a class full of witnesses, half of which would readily testify against you if asked.'

'Ah, only half.' Draco smirked. 'It's Slytherin's word against Gryffindor's, and no one from my house would say anything against me.'

'You're forgetting something.' Alex said quietly, with a steel edge to his tone. 'A Slytherin I may be, but one thing I'm not is a liar.' Draco glared at him.

'You don't deserve to be a Slytherin – where's your house loyalty?' Draco glared witheringly at the other Drake.

'Oh it's there alright – but I'll only stand up for someone with integrity; a quality you appear to be severely lacking.' Draco recoiled as though he'd been slapped. Alex smirked, a perfect duplicate of Draco's own trademark sneer. It was an unnerving thing to witness.

The class fell into silence, with the Gryffindors and Slytherins glaring at each other as they waited for Madam Hooch to return. Madam Hooch was not impressed with the altercation between Potter and Draco and deducted 20 points from Slytherin, disallowing the Slytherin from participating in the rest of the lesson. She resumed the lesson, and directed them all through a basic flight. The Drake brothers turned out to be natural fliers. Hermione, who had prided herself in high standards in all her classes, barely managed to make it through the various drills and exercises.

The lesson was soon over, and Madam Hooch dismissed the students, still a little sour from the lesson's rough start. Although Azriel did not care so much for Potter's wellbeing in his newfound dislike for the boy, Azriel did wonder as he went back inside the castle what was going to become of Potter. McGonagall had been livid, and they had already learned the hard way that McGonagall was not a teacher one wanted to cross. He did not share these mild concerns with Alex as they went to dinner, this time at their separate house tables.

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_Please review!_


	4. Chapter 3: To The Dogs

**A/N:** This chapter is where the story starts to build up, and it shows more clearly how the Drake brothers relate to their peers. It's also setting up some of the 'Gary Stu' elements of my characters, but these will be counteracted later. ;)

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 3: To The Dogs

As it turned out, Potter didn't seem to be in that much trouble even after blatantly breaking the rules – provoked by Draco or not – judging by the complete lack of any sign of guilt or shame. Speaking of Draco, Azriel noted sourly that he was strutting around the place proudly for some reason. Alex told him Draco was hoping Potter had gotten expelled; why the Slytherin would want to do that, Azriel really didn't care to know. It was at dinner that Draco sauntered over to the Gryffindor table flanked by Crabbe and Goyle.

'Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?' At the word 'muggles' Azriel took notice and paid attention to the proceedings. He pretended to ignore what was going on, but watched from the corner of his eye.

'You're a lot braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you,' said Potter coolly. Crabbe and Goyle just cracked their knuckles, unable to do anything else in the presence of the Hogwarts staff. Smart of them for once, Azriel mused.

'I'd take you on any time on my own, said Draco. 'Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?'

'Of course he has,' said Ron, wheeling around. Azriel cocked an eyebrow; it looked like Potter didn't know what they were talking about. 'I'm his second, who's yours?'

'Crabbe,' Draco said. 'Midnight all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked.' Draco walked away back to his own table; talking and cackling with his friends. After a few minutes, Alex contacted him telepathically.

_Az, heads up. Draco's planning a wizard's duel tonight with Potter._

'I know,' Azriel thought back. 'I just heard Draco propose it.'

_Just so you know, I think it's a setup. From what I can hear, Draco never intends to show up – probably gonna tell someone and get Potter in trouble._

'Why does that not surprise me?' Azriel fought the urge to roll his eyes, knowing the gesture would seem odd to anyone who may have paid attention to him. 'I'll see what I can do.'

_Why would you do that? I get the impression you're starting to not like the kid_. Azriel could see a faint smirk on his brother's face from across the hall.

'Well I'm not about to let anyone get expelled over something stupid – if he hasn't been already from that stunt he pulled in our flying lesson.' Azriel doubted Potter was actually getting expelled; he figured Alex would also be aware of this, but Draco seemed to think Potter was in for it so the brothers left him alone. He looked over to study Draco for a minute, absently putting food in his mouth and chewing carefully.

Azriel was quickly distracted by Hermione; who had obviously heard the conversation between Draco, Ron and Potter as well, and had beaten him to the punch of confronting them. Azriel could tell she was concerned, but was also observant enough to realise her condescending attitude and tone were not having the desired effect; this was made all the more evident by the flippant dismissal the boys gave her.

Azriel followed them out of the Great Hall and back toward the common room; other students were pacing the corridors as well, so Azriel waited until they were in a less crowded hall before he addressed them.

'Bookworm has a point, y'know. You really shouldn't be out at night.' Azriel said. Ron turned to glare at him. Azriel ignored this.

'Hermione send you, did she?' Ron scowled.

'Bookworm has nothing to do with this; I'm here all on my own,' Azriel said bluntly. 'I just think it's a bad idea if you go through with this; I wouldn't trust Malfoy after what happened in Flying Class.'

'Like I said to Hermione, it's none of your business.' Potter said, continuing to walk down the corridor. Azriel ran ahead to cut him off.

'It's called 'house loyalty', you should try it some time.'

'Come off it Drake; Malfoy would follow through with it. It's a wizard's honour thing.' Ron said, getting annoyed at the blond.

'I know about wizard's honour. I'm a pureblood too, remember?' Azriel rolled his eyes and glared at the redhead.

'Yeah; so you'd be on Malfoy's side.'

'And why would I be?' Azriel blinked.

'Your brother's in the same house as that slimy git for a star.'

'What, you think that's supposed to mean anything? You think I'm trying to trick you _just_ because my brother's in the same house as Malfoy?'

'They're both Slytherins aren't they? Trickery and lying is what they do best. You probably should have been put there as well.' Ron scowled at him.

'Again; why? If you're thinking there's some cosmic law that says I should be or act a certain way just because of my heritage, you're severely mistaken. Besides, I don't know what being in a certain school house has to do with anything.'

'Look, Slytherin's turned out more dark wizards than any other house at Hogwarts –' Ron started. Azriel cut him off sharply.

'You think Alex is a dark wizard?' Azriel chuckled bitterly. 'Excuse me, but I _think_ I would know my own brother better than that. Anyway, it was him who told me Malfoy was planning on pulling a fast one on you.'

Ron didn't seem to understand the Muggle saying but Potter certainly did; he stopped and looked at Azriel.

'Why would he do that?' Potter asked, with suspicion.

'Because he's my brother, and I trust him,' Azriel said as though this was the most obvious thing in the world. 'And he's not as bad as you seem to think he is. Honestly, it's like you've already judged and condemned him based on a _school house_. Do you have any idea how stupid and childish that sounds? You don't know him. For that matter, you don't even know me so don't flatter yourself by pretending you do.'

'Don't listen to him, Harry. If his brother sent him, Malfoy probably put them up to it. Probably trying to get you to chicken out' Ron said, stubbornly. Azriel sighed in exasperation.

'Have you already forgotten flying class? When all the Slytherins were laughing and mocking at Neville's expense who was the one Slytherin who took a stand? Who was it that stood up to Malfoy when he declared that they'd get away with their behaviour? I'm sorry, but _please._ Give Alex more credit than that.'

Ron had seemingly convinced Potter to side with him however, and the two stubborn Gryffindors turned and stalked off without a second glance at Azriel. The blond shook his head in frustration and followed them back to the Gryffindor common room. The portrait had only just closed behind them when Azriel arrived at it, so he growled the password and stepped inside, his darkened mood evident.

The rest of the evening was spent doing homework in silence. The common room was mostly empty, so Ron was trying to give Potter tips and pointers to help him in the Wizard's duel. Hermione sat off at another table also doing her homework, and she would shift her attention occasionally to tut and roll her eyes, having given up on patronising the boys.

Azriel stayed awake in his bed that night listening for Ron and Potter to try and sneak out; at half-past eleven he heard Ron whispering to Potter that it was time to go. Fully dressed, with his wand and daggers at the ready, he stealthily followed them out of the dormitory and down to the common room.

Azriel had intended to pursue them after they had exited the common room, but stopped after Hermione made her presence known. She'd hidden herself in an armchair in the corner of the common room where the firelight couldn't reach her. It almost looked as though she'd appeared from thin air.

'I can't believe you're going to do this, Harry.' She was frowning; an expression Azriel had seen on her a lot throughout the evening.

'_You!_' said Ron furiously. 'Go back to bed!'

'I could say the same for you.' Azriel said quietly. Ron and Potter jerked around, and Hermione looked up at him, frowning at him as though she were accusing him for ruining her attempt to be moralistic and authoritative. Azriel could care less for her attitude.

'Not you too?' Ron spat.

'I told you it was a set-up, but you wouldn't listen. Now excuse me for trying to save your skins. Believe me, there are a lot of things my time would be _much_ better spent on.' Azriel drawled, knowing exactly that his words only served to further aggravate the volatile redhead.

'I almost told your brother,' Hermione snapped, 'Percy – he's a prefect, he'd put a stop to this.'

'Come on,' Potter said to Ron, ignoring Hermione and Azriel by pushing open the portrait of the Fat Lady and climbing through the hole. Azriel wasn't about to give up that easily, and made for the portrait hole.

As it would turn out, Hermione wasn't going to give up that easily either. She followed Ron through the portrait hole, hissing at them like an angry goose. Azriel pursued them.

'Don't you _care_ about Gryffindor, do you _only_ care about yourselves, _I_ don't want Slytherin to win the house cup and you'll lose all the points I got from Professor McGonagall for knowing about Switching Spells.'

'Go away,' was Ron's terse reply.

'All right, but I warned you, you just remember what I said when you're on the train home tomorrow, you're so –'

What they were, Azriel never found out. Hermione had turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to get back inside, only the Fat Lady had disappeared. Azriel swore quietly when he noticed this fact.

'Now what am I going to do?' she asked shrilly.

'You could keep your voice down for a start.' Azriel said lowly. Hermione glared at him, looking affronted.

'What you do now is your problem,' said Ron. 'We've got to go, we're going to be late.' They walked off, and Azriel paced them, leaving Hermione outside the portrait on her own. Before they'd even gotten to the end of the corridor, she was running after them.

'I'm coming with you,' she said.

'You are _not_.'

'And what should we do, stand in front of an empty portrait all night?' Azriel rolled his eyes. 'For one, it's cold out here, and you never know whether someone might come and find us out of bed. Surely you're not _that_ stupid?' Ron's face was turning red, and he looked ready to have a stroke.

'You're got some nerve –' said Ron loudly.

'Shut up, all of you!' Potter said sharply, 'I heard something.' Azriel listened for it; he could hear it too. It was a sort of snuffling.

'Mrs Norris?' breathed Ron, squinting through the dark.

'No... I have a cat, remember? I'd know one when I heard it; this is something else.' Azriel was looking keenly down each direction of the corridor looking for the source of the noise. A few seconds later, he spotted Neville, curled up on the floor, fast asleep. He jerked away as they crept near him.

'Thank goodness you found me! I've been out here for hours, I couldn't remember the new password to get into bed.'

'Quiet, Neville. The password's 'Pig Snout' but it won't do you any good. The Fat Lady's run off,' Azriel said. Neville's eyes widened and he shivered unconsciously.

'How's your arm?' said Harry.

'Fine,' said Neville, showing them. 'Madam Pomfrey mended it in about a minute.' Azriel was impressed; it looked as though nothing had ever happened. Madam Pomfrey must have been good at what she did; Azriel had heard tales from his father of somewhat average healers back home that would take at least twice amount of time to complete the same task, and even then the result wasn't quite as good.

'Good – well, look, Neville, we've got to be somewhere, we'll see you later –'

'Don't leave me!' said Neville, scrambling to his feet, 'I don't want to stay here alone, the Bloody Baron's been past twice already.' Ron looked at his watch and glared furiously at the three tag-alongs.

'If any of you get us caught, I'll never rest until I've learnt that Curse of the Bogies Quirrell told us about and used it on you.' Hermione was about to tell him just how it worked but Potter silenced her. Azriel quietly agreed with this action; he wasn't in the mood for another one of the bookworm's lectures.

They flitted along corridors striped with bars of moonlight from the high windows. At every turn, Azriel checked to see if he could hear Filch or Mrs Norris, and helped guide them if he thought he heard a noise. Ron insisted that Azriel keep out of it, but the blond persisted. Soon, they were at the trophy room. Malfoy and Crabbe were nowhere to be seen, just as Azriel had suspected.

'What did I tell you? It was a setup,' Azriel hissed when no one had turned up after five minutes passed.

'Maybe he chickened out,' Ron hissed stubbornly. Azriel just rolled his eyes, looking over at Neville and Hermione to see that they were frantic with worry. They were alerted by a noise in the next room; Azriel instinctively reached for one of his daggers, concealed within his robes, when they heard a distinctly un-Malfoy-like voice.

'Sniff around, my sweet, they might be lurking in a corner.' Filch was speaking to Mrs Norris. The others were horror-struck but Azriel adapted instantly to the new situation, beckoning for the others to follow him quickly to the other end of the trophy room. He made sure they were all through before leaving the room himself, barely making it out before Filch and his cat entered the trophy room.

'They're in here somewhere,' they heard him mutter, 'probably hiding.' Azriel cursed under his breath; that was too close for comfort and if they didn't move now, they'd be caught anyway.

'This way!' Potter mouthed to the others and they began to creep down a long gallery full of suits of armour. Azriel could hear Filch getting nearer. Neville suddenly let out a frightened squeak and broke into a run – he barely got two steps before Azriel reflexively snatched him and halted him in his tracks.

'Don't run; it'll only make it easier for Mrs Norris to hear you, and then we'll be caught.' Azriel hissed. They heard the cat screech; she'd heard them anyway. Azriel looked down the corridor they'd come from on the lookout for the feline; he looked back just in time to see Ron walk backwards into a suit of armour, who had turned around to see for himself what was going on. The armour fell over with a crash loud enough to wake the castle.

'Thanks a lot, Ron!' Azriel hissed loudly, breaking into a run himself. Behind him, he could hear the others taking pursuit in an effort to flee from the impending danger. Azriel risked turning around to see Filch and Mrs Norris running after them. Filch didn't seem to be able to catch up with them, but Mrs Norris was a lot more nimble, so Azriel decided they needed to twist and turn to lose her.

At one point, Potter took the lead. He had at least cottoned on to Azriel's plan, as he led them down one corridor then another, taking whatever gaps and shortcuts they could find in order to confuse the cat, although there was still her sense of smell which would be harder to trick. Azriel was sure he had no idea where they were going, but it sounded like Filch and Mrs Norris were getting further away. Remembering a passageway behind a certain tapestry, Azriel took the lead again, taking them through the passageway to appear in a corridor outside the Charms classroom, which was a fair distance from the trophy room.

'We lost them, I think,' Azriel said sharply with a pointed glare at Ron. He was only slightly out of breath, which was in sharp contrast with the others. Neville was bent double, wheezing and spluttering. Potter was leaning against the wall wiping sweat from his brow.

'We – _told_ – you,' Hermione gasped, clutching at the stitch in her chest, 'we – told – you.'

'We've got to get back to Gryffindor tower,' said Azriel, 'as quickly as possible. Needless to say, Potter, Malfoy tricked you just like I said he would.'

'You do realise that, don't you?' Hermione added. 'He was never going to meet you –'

'That's what I _said_,' Azriel huffed.

'- Filch knew someone was going to be in the trophy room, Malfoy must have tipped him off.' Hermione ploughed on despite Azriel's interruption. This got on the blond's nerves.

'Let's go,' interjected Ron. Easier said than done, as it turned out. They'd barely made any distance when a doorknob rattled, and something came shooting out of a classroom in front of them. Unfortunately for them, it was Peeves, and he spotted them.

'Wandering around at midnight, Ickle Firsties? Tut, tut, tut. Naughty, naughty, you'll get caughty.'

'Not if you don't give us away,' Azriel snapped, glaring at the poltergeist.

'Should tell Filch, I should,' said Peeves in a saintly voice, but his eyes glittered wickedly. 'It's for your own good, you know.'

'Get out of the way,' snapped Ron. Azriel tried to stop him from taking a swipe at Peeves, but the mistake was made.

'STUDENTS OUT OF BED!' Peeves bellowed, 'STUDENTS OUT OF BED DOWN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!' Azriel really wanted to knock some sense into Ron, but he could hear Filch approaching again, and they had no time to dawdle or they would risk getting caught again.

They resumed running, ducking under Peeves and approaching a door at the end of the corridor – one they found upon reaching it that it was locked. Azriel tried to peek into the lock, but it was too small for him to see the mechanism inside, or what was on the other side of the door.

'Damn, this is _not_ what we need right now,' Azriel muttered darkly, looking back down the corridor. Behind him, he could hear the rapidly approaching footsteps of Filch coming toward Peeves' shouts. Azriel pulled out his wand and pointed it at the lock.

'_Alohomora!_' The lock clicked, and the door swung open. Azriel urged the others through before entering himself, closing the door behind him. The others piled up behind him to listen as Filch argued with the poltergeist.

'Which way did they go, Peeves?' Filch was saying. 'Quick, tell me.' Azriel looked at the others. They were probably done for now; surely Peeves would rat them out, and they'd be in serious trouble.

'Say "please".' Azriel held his breath – this was not the response he was expecting from the poltergeist. Clearly the others were just as surprised.

'Don't mess me about, Peeves, now _where did they go?_'

'Shan't say nothing if you don't say please,' said Peeves in his annoying sing-song voice. Filch must have been getting frustrated; Azriel knew he would as well if he had to put up with cheek from the poltergeist.

'All right – _please_.'

'NOTHING! Ha haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha ha! Haaaaaa!' They heard Peeves whooshing away and Filch cursing in rage at being foiled. Azriel had no idea what Peeves gained from not ratting them out but was oddly glad that he had saved them. Azriel found this fact to be unsettling; surely there had to be a catch?

As it turned out, there was – Now that he could think clearly about where they were, Azriel realised without turning around that there was another presence in the room, and turned when Potter did, at Neville's silent insistence. They weren't in a room – rather, they were in a corridor. Azriel then realised which floor they were on and where they'd just ended up – the forbidden corridor on the third floor. And they'd just discovered why it was forbidden.

'And then they bring out the Cerberus; this night just keeps getting better and better.' The blond chuckled sarcastically; Azriel was clearly not amused at the turn of events tonight. The Cerberus was a three-headed monster of a dog with three heads. It had three pairs of rolling, mad eyes; three noses, twitching and quivering in their direction; three drooling mouths, saliva hanging in slippery ropes from yellowish fangs. This particular Cerberus stood all the way up to the ceiling. Azriel had no idea they could even grow this big, but evidently they could. And this one looked quite vicious.

It was standing quite still, all six eyes staring at them, and Azriel knew that the only reason it hadn't attacked them yet was because their sudden appearance had taken the creature by surprise. The shock was quickly wearing off though, because it was starting to growl thunderously. Again, the dread of getting caught rose within them; for the collective sound of the three heads' growling was quite loud, and was sure to bring Filch right back to the corridor on the other side of the door.

Azriel noticed Potter going for the knob; the choice was right there - Filch or death. Azriel was certain the Cerberus would rip them to shreds if they stayed so the only other alternative was to face the caretaker. Potter picked the smart choice and opened the door.

The others fell through around him, so Azriel was the last to step out just as the Cerberus lunged at them. The others had cleared out from the corridor but Azriel could not get away from the Cerberus in time, so he had to resort to pulling out his daggers. The flash of metal startled the Cerberus, who stopped short of taking Azriel's arm off with its central head.

Azriel hastily closed the door as he backed out of the room, noting that Filch had gone elsewhere, as had Peeves. Behind the door, the Cerberus started howling once again bring the risk of attracting Filch who by now must have been tearing his hair out running around the castle on this wild goose chase.

The others all starting running yet again, so Azriel tailed them, keeping an eye and ear out for any other nasty surprises. He didn't stop to put his daggers away in case Filch or someone showed up in the few crucial seconds it took for him to re-sheath them. No one stopped running until they were safely outside the Fat Lady's portrait on the seventh floor.

'Where on earth have you all been?' she asked sternly, taking in their dressing gowns (and in Azriel's case, his school uniform) and their flushed, sweaty faces. Azriel finally took the opportunity to put his daggers away; Neville staring apprehensively at them did not escape the blond's notice.

'Never mind that – pig snout, pig snout,' panted Potter, and the portrait swung forward to let them in. They collapsed into armchairs, again save for Azriel who sat down calmly in his. They sat in silence; indeed, Neville looked as though he'd never speak again.

'What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school?' said Ron finally. 'If any dog needs exercise, that one does.'

Hermione had gotten her breath and her temper back. Azriel sat back and let her go.

'You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?' she snapped. 'Didn't you see what it was standing on?'

'I'm afraid I didn't, bookworm. I was too busy concerning myself with the fact that there was even a Cerberus _in_ that corridor, and that it almost took my wand arm off.' Azriel snapped.

'The floor?' Potter suggested to Hermione's question.

'No, _not_ the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something.' Azriel's eyebrows shot up upon learning this information. He took a moment to think about this it, ignoring Hermione standing up to glare at them.

'I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed – or worse, expelled. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed.' She left without another word.

'Expelled, yeah. Killed? Another second with that Cerberus and we'd _all _have been lunchmeat,' Azriel muttered.

'Y'know, none of this would have happened if you'd bloody well left us alone!' Ron snapped.

'You're right. We could have left you alone tonight. Then maybe instead of going home tomorrow on a train, you'd be going home tomorrow in a _body bag!_' Azriel hissed right back. Ron did not reply, instead glaring venomously at the blond.

'And what do you think you're doing, carrying around weapons like that?' Ron barked. 'Are you some sort of assassin or something?' Azriel stared at him, jaw gone slack, leaving him looking flabbergasted. Azriel hadn't thought Ron had even seen the daggers in his possession. The redhead clearly misinterpreted this to mean he'd been right.

'You are, aren't you? You're here to murder Dumbledore! O-or McGonagall! Or maybe even Harry?' Ron was getting wilder and wilder.

'Would you_ listen_ to yourself?' Azriel chuckled darkly. 'What is with you and all these conspiracy theories? I'm not here to hurt, maim or torture anyone, and I'm certainly not here to kill anyone either. I've had these things on me all year; they were a gift from my dad and he knows I'm not about to go abusing them. Be thankful I even had them tonight, because if I didn't, I'd be missing an arm right now. Or a head. Care to think about how you'd explain _that_ to McGonagall?' Ron fell silent, white-faced but still glaring at Azriel with suspicion. Azriel could almost hear the mental gears in Ron's head grinding; it seemed he was trying to find some fault or flaw in Azriel's statement.

'Do you think Hermione's right?' Potter interjected quietly, breaking up the already-escalating fight before it got too out of hand, and McGonagall would be the next teacher they'd need to avoid. 'Do you think that – what'd you call it?'

'It's a Cerberus. A creature of ancient Greek origin. It's most famously known thanks to a certain myth describing a Cerberus guarding the entrance to the Underworld, and it was the pet of Hades, the god of the dead.'

'- yeah, that Cerberus thing. Maybe it actually is guarding something? I mean – it couldn't have been in there standing over a trap door for no reason.'

'Who cares?' Ron said angrily, still glaring at Azriel. 'I'm going to bed. Come on, Harry.'

Potter got up to follow Ron up to the boys' dormitory. Neville looked over at them, then glanced helplessly at the others as he joined them. Azriel sighed and stared into the fire, fingering his temple.

This new development complicated matters. Azriel had a few questions now, having been armed with this new information. Something _was_ going on in the school he now knew; something important was being guarded. That could definitely be confirmed now by the presence of the Cerberus down on the third floor. His first question was whether or not this had anything to do with the attempted Gringotts robbery; Azriel didn't know.

Next was the question of what exactly was being guarded. 'Something valuable' could have meant anything – he needed to know a little bit more about what was being guarded if he was to determine for himself how important it was that this object be kept safe.

The third question was, why was it _here?_ This had been brought up before with Alex, but the question was still relevant as ever. Presuming this was connected to the Gringotts burglary attempt; if a break-in had occurred at Gringotts, surely it would have been just as good an idea to relocate the item in question to another vault with the vault number remaining hidden? If whoever wanted it couldn't find it, then it would be perfectly safe in the bank.

Finally, Azriel wondered for how long this protection would last; for all he knew, that Cerberus could be guarding that trap door for years. How a creature of that size could be kept secret for that long and still be properly cared for, Azriel didn't know and he didn't want to think about it.

What he did know now was that he and Alex needed to have a good chat some time tomorrow. Azriel's brother would surely be asleep at this hour, and Azriel didn't want to wake him. He got up out of his chair and walked up the stairs to the boys' dorm. He was careful not to wake Seamus or Dean as he quietly put away his daggers and his wand.

He noticed Neville lying awake as he changed into his pyjamas and put away his robes. Neville looked meek and pale under the moonlight shining through the window.

'Get to sleep,' Azriel muttered. 'You'll need it; it's been a rough night.' Neville squeaked and nodded in agreement. Azriel could hear the boy turning restlessly under his covers as he tried to get comfortable. Making sure his things were all put away, Azriel got into his own bed. He checked that Potter and Ron were asleep (Ron was glaring up at the canopy of his bed as though it had dared him to a staring contest) and tried to get some sleep himself, feeling suddenly exhausted from tonight's ordeal.

Azriel's dreams that night were troubled; the events of the evening replayed over and over in his mind – several times they had been caught by Filch as they made their escape. Soon, Azriel and the others were being mauled by the Cerberus. In at least one variation, Azriel was sure the door to the Forbidden Corridor was open, and Filch and Peeves were laughing and mocking as they watched the children helplessly try to fight off the giant dog.

The next morning Azriel didn't feel remotely rested; he was quite irritable, and he snapped at anyone who tried to talk to him as he brushed his hair in the common room, tugging the brush roughly through the blond strands with more force than he needed to. Ron and he shared mutual glares while Azriel tied his hair back with a little black ribbon and left the common room to go to the Great Hall for breakfast. Azriel would definitely need to have that talk with his brother sometime today, he decided.


	5. Chapter 4: Gifts & Curses

**A/N:** Sorry to everyone who's been reading for having to wait for this chapter! I hadn't intended to leave it so long without updating. This chapter introduces an element that will become pivotal in the overall plotline. It is the major thing that makes my characters Gary Stus, but they are just the protagonists of my story and not the main in-universe heroes.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 4: Gifts & Curses

Azriel's bad mood was not improved by Draco's face at breakfast when he learned that Potter was still there, although he wished it had. He could tell Alex was amused, at least. Azriel had overheard the other Gryffindors deciding over breakfast that meeting the Cerberus had been a nice adventure and that they wouldn't mind having another one. Azriel personally thought they had a death wish.

It was during this breakfast that Azriel learned something new; the Potter boy had been at Gringotts the same day of the break-in; he had been to the vault that the would-be thieves had attempted to rob. Potter mentioned that Hagrid had accompanied him to the vault in question, which confirmed that there was in fact a Gringotts-Hogwarts connection. He also learned the object was small; only about two inches long.

'It's either really valuable or really dangerous,' said Ron.

'Or both,' said Potter.

Thank you Captain Obvious, Azriel thought darkly, while he loaded eggs onto his plate. At least he had some more information to share for when he talked to Alex later.

Neither Neville or Hermione showed any interest in trying to find out what was being guarded by the Cerberus, which Azriel agreed with. To have anything more to do with that creature was suicide, pure and simple. Good for them. Hermione wasn't speaking to Potter or the redhead which Azriel supposed wasn't such a good thing because it meant if they did something stupid again, no one would be there to keep them in check; Azriel certainly wasn't going to come to their aid again.

So it was when an oddly broom-shaped package arrived for Potter a week later that Azriel was truly disgusted. The boy had been incredibly naïve and stupid over the past few weeks, and was now seemingly being rewarded for his less than stellar behaviour.

While Potter and Ron were gushing over Potter's new broomstick, Azriel left the Great Hall. It was only seconds later that said Gryffindors followed, with Draco holding up the rear. Draco seemed to think Potter would be in more trouble for having a broomstick when first years weren't allowed, but he was completely floored when Professor Flitwick confirmed that there were special circumstances in place for Potter. Azriel just felt further disgusted – now the school was bowing before Potter because he was supposed to be some big celebrity. The whole thing was beyond a joke.

By Halloween, the school had settled down considerably regarding Potter's broomstick, and Draco had seemingly gotten over his shock and embarrassment at being upstaged by the Gryffindor. Classes had begun to get more interesting and difficult; they gave Azriel something to focus on other than the Cerberus and what it was guarding – thoughts that had been in the back of his mind since the beast had been discovered in the forbidden corridor. Between classes and homework, Azriel hadn't found the time to even talk to Alex about what he'd learned yet.

That Halloween morning, the Gryffindors had Charms with Professor Flitwick. Most of the class was thrilled to learn that they would begin enchanting objects to make them fly; Azriel was not as excited as the others seemed to be however, and listened in boredom as Professor Flitwick assigned them into working pairs and explained the Wingardium Leviosa spell that they would be using today. Azriel was paired up with Neville, and so he allowed Neville to try practicing the spell on his own.

While Neville tried (and failed) several times to work the charm, Azriel looked out the window with his chin cradled in his right palm. In his left hand he spun his wand idly. After a few minutes he let go of his wand, which continued to spin in place above his hand. Hermione had successfully levitated her feather when she spotted this.

'What are you doing?' Hermione exclaimed in alarm. Azriel snapped to attention, turning round to look at her. Attention directed elsewhere, his wand fell onto his desk with a clatter.

'What?' Azriel asked.

'Your wand. It was floating above your hand on its own. At first I thought Neville's aim was off but it wasn't. How did you do that?' By now, half the class had turned its attention to Hermione.

'What, this?' Azriel held up his wand again above his hand. While he concentrated on it, it began to rise, spinning over his hand like a compass. It gradually picked up speed, until Azriel stopped it, in mid-air, pointing directly at Hermione.

'Why, what is this?' Professor Flitwick cried out in excitement, taking notice of this display. 'My boy, you don't have a Gift, do you?' Azriel grinned at his teacher.

'Telekinesis,' Azriel announced proudly, a grin spreading across his face. 'The ability runs back through my dad's family line for at least 10 generations.'

'Remarkable. Simply remarkable! And you have complete control?' Professor Flitwick's excitement was quickly becoming much more evident.

'Yeah. Dad started training my brother and I when we were five.'

'Such a young age; I don't recall ever having met a witch or wizard who had mastered their Gift while so young. Class, this is something I wasn't expecting to cover until your NEWT-level class, but can anyone tell me anything at all about a Gift?'

The class was mostly stunned into silence, and none answered. Even Hermione, who greatly prided herself of her book smarts, failed to reply. Azriel smirked inwardly at the disbelief written on her face.

'Alright then Azriel, I imagine you can tell us more about Gifts, since you yourself possess one.' Professor Flitwick beamed at him.

'Well, there are five Gifts in all; special abilities borne only to a very select few witches and wizards. Because of this, the chance of encountering a witch or wizard with a Gift is very small; back in America, the odds you'd come across one is a million to one – I don't even know what the chances of finding one would be here. Gifts are most commonly found in family lines though, so if anyone does have a Gift, you could trace it that way. Like I said, my own Gift has been in my dad's family for generations.'

'And what are the five Gifts?'

'There's my own, Telekinesis – which is the ability to manipulate and control one's environments with their thoughts. You have to be able to see whatever it is you're trying to control, or visualise where exactly something is so you can control it that way. You can't control something if you don't know where it is or if you don't know something's there.

'The second Gift is the power of invisibility; this is far more powerful than more conventional means of invisibility, because it's independent of spells or magical objects, so it can be switched on and off by the Gift-bearer. The ability can also be used to affect the environment, as long as the Gift-bearer is focused, because it's harder to hide objects without a physical connection.

'The third Gift is flight, that's one is self-explanatory. It's just flight without use of a broomstick. The fourth gift is temporal control, which is the rarest of the five. It's also the most draining depending on how it's used; one with the Gift of temporal control can manipulate the flow of time; they can speed it up or they can slow it down, and at full power and maturity, they can even travel forward or backward through time, but this is why it's the most draining gift because it takes a massive amount of power to achieve.

'The final gift is precognition, which is different from being a Seer because the Gift is advanced far beyond the Seer's innate abilities. While a Seer can predict the future, they cannot See the future in perfect clarity, whereas one with the Gift of precognition can predict future events down to minute details. It's incredibly hard to avert the future one sees through precognition; it's almost like destiny. If you see something happening, whatever you do will invariably lead to that outcome, unless something incredibly drastic occurs that prevents that future from becoming a reality.

'Because the Gift is so rare, any witch or wizard is required to register their ability with the Ministry Of Magic. Any Gifted with an unregistered Gift is considered potentially dangerous, because while there is no law governing how a Gift can be used, there is no way of identifying who may or may not be using their Gift as a tool for dark magic.'

'How does one recognise when a witch or wizard has a Gift?' Professor Flitwick asked. The entire class, even Hermione, was listening intently. Hermione, Azriel noticed, was as enthralled at what she was hearing as annoyed that someone was so knowledgeable at a subject that she herself had never heard of. Azriel although thought she was a little sore that someone had proved more proficient at something than she was. Sure, she had levitated her feather successfully, but Azriel didn't even need the spell.

'Well, aside from the obvious effect of the Gift itself when it's in use by the Gift-bearer, the eyes of the Gifted turn violet when they're exerting a great level of power. The Gift is tied to the owner's emotions; certain feelings can trigger the Gift and onset the colour change if it's strong enough. Fear and anger are common triggers for the Gift depending on the situation'

'Have your eyes ever turned violet?' Hermione asked. Azriel could almost hear the jealousy amongst the bookworm's curiosity.

'No, not yet that I can recall. Neither has my brother. I don't think we've quite developed full strength of our power yet. The control comes easily enough, but full power can only be reached with maturity.'

Azriel spent a few more minutes talking about the Gift, but eventually the original class had to be resumed. By the end of the class, Azriel had proved that although he had no use for the spell, he could successfully cast Wingardium Leviosa, and had almost succeeded in helping Neville by the time class was over.

Hermione had also floated her feather several times, constantly having to repeat to Ron when he was making a mistake. The redhead clearly wasn't getting it, and was in a foul mood by the end of the class.

'It's no wonder no one can stand her,' Ron said to Potter as they were leaving, 'she's a nightmare, honestly.'

'You're not exactly a pocketful of sunshine yourself, Ron,' Azriel snorted. Hermione had clearly been upset though, and she knocked past Potter as she powered down the corridor. Azriel thought he saw a tear or two, but she was too far away so he couldn't be sure.

As it turned out, Hermione must have been really upset, because she didn't turn up to their next class, nor was she seen at lunch or during the afternoon. Maybe she'd curled up in the library with a good tome or something to read; it seemed like her kind of pastime, and the library her kind of venue for recreation.

On his way down to the Halloween feast with Alex, he overheard Parvati and Lavender from his house talking about Hermione being in the girls' toilets crying and wanting to be left alone. There goes that library theory, Azriel thought darkly; and he glared at Ron, as it was the redhead who had upset her in the first place.

There was a multitude of live black bats filling the Great Hall when they arrived; Azriel walked over to the Gryffindor table and got himself a seat, and Alex followed after him.

'What's _he_ doing here?' Ron spat, jerking his head toward the Slytherin Drake.

'Having dinner with my brother, in what I was _hoping_ would be a more hospitable atmosphere,' Alex drawled, sparing a glance over at his own table where Draco was glaring at him, and whispering with the other first-year Slytherins.

The other Gryffindors said nothing throughout dinner at the Slytherin's presence at their table, but that did nothing to stop the odd glances Alex received on occasion from the older students.

It wasn't long before Professor Quirrell burst into the Great Hall, his turban askew and terror on his face. He ran up to the staff table and Dumbledore, slumped against the table and gasped, 'Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know.' He then sank to the floor in a dead faint; the Drake brothers glanced at each other with eyebrows cocked.

There was uproar from the rest of the students. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.

'Prefects,' he rumbled, 'lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!' Ron's brother Percy – Azriel recognised him now – was in his element.

'Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a prefect!' In all the commotion, no one stopped to notice that Alex was still with the Gryffindors.

'How could a troll get in?' They heard Potter ask as they climbed the stairs.

'Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid,' said Ron. 'Maybe Peeves let it in for a Halloween joke.'

'Unlikely,' Azriel heard Alex mutter in his ear. Neville squeaked when he saw the Slytherin at the back of their group, but Azriel signalled with a finger to his lips for the other boy to keep silent.

They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Azriel saw Potter suddenly grab Ron's arm.

'I've just thought – Hermione.' Potter said urgently.

'What about her?'

'She doesn't know about the troll.' Azriel silently cursed, having not thought of this himself since she hadn't been seen since Charms that morning.

Azriel and Alex quietly broke off from the group, slipping into a hidden alcove.

'What do we do about Bookworm?' Azriel asked in a hushed tone.

'Quirrell said the troll was in the dungeons; I don't think she'd be anywhere near there, so she should be alright.' Alex replied.

'Still, a troll? If she runs into it under any circumstance as all, she's pancakes 'cause it'll flatter her.'

'You do have a point there, at least.' Alex agreed. 'Those Gryffindor girls from your year level said she was in the girls' bathroom; we should probably try and find her in one of them. At the very least it'll give us a starting place to look for her.'

Plan already formulating, the Drake brothers slipped out of their alcove to find the corridor empty, as the students had moved on to other halls in the castle. They had to duck into the next alcove almost immediately as they heard footsteps approaching in front of them; it was Snape, but they couldn't tell where exactly he was going. They moved back out once Snape was out of sight.

'What's Snape doing, looking for you?' Azriel asked.

'He's my head of house,' Alex replied. 'He probably noticed I wasn't down in the dungeons with the other Slytherins so he came after me.' Alex began to follow his head of house, so Azriel sprinted to catch up to him.

'If he's looking for me, I might as well follow him. You should go after Bookworm.' Snape was quickly in their sight again; wherever he was going, it was with purpose and it certainly didn't seem like he was looking for anything. Curiosity piqued, the twins followed him.

'Hey, he's going to the forbidden corridor!' Azriel hissed, recognising the hallways they were traversing. 'What's he doing going anywhere near there?' The Drakes continued to pursue the teacher, now with purpose of their own.

Snape arrived outside the door to the forbidden corridor, and tried the unlocking spell; it was unsuccessful. From the twins' hidden vantage point, Azriel watched him scowl with suspicion that the door was unlocked; it seemed no one had checked it since the little night escapade a while ago.

The door opened and Snape stepped inside; he closed it behind him as he stepped through. While the door was open, they could hear the Cerberus growl menacingly at the intruder and see the central head baring its teeth. Alex raised his eyebrows and looked over at his brother; he was suspicious at the lack of surprise on Azriel's face. The Gryffindor Drake, of course, had not forgotten the creature was there so obviously it came as no surprise to him that it was still there.

'When we have a moment, you're going to tell me how you know about that thing,' Alex muttered while keeping watch on the door for Snape to re-emerge.

'Yeah, later.' Azriel agreed. Behind the closed corridor door, they thought they heard a tin whistle sounding a few notes. The Cerberus was still making noise itself, so it was hard to tell. A particularly loud growl and a shout from Snape was a clear indication that something was happening – Azriel pictured the Cerberus attacking Snape violently, and was unpleasantly reminded of his dream from that night of the same happening to Azriel himself.

A minute, more growling and a few yelled curses later, Snape emerged from the corridor looking outraged. They could hear the professor magically lock the corridor door behind him. Snape lifted the hem of his robe to reveal his leg, which was bleeding heavily from a set of dog-like bite marks. Clearly, the professor had been attacked by the dog, explaining the curses. The Drake brothers looked at each other, then at the door. It was then that they realized the Cerberus had quieted a little too quickly given what had just happened.

Snape muttered a few minor diagnostic and healing spells as well as a cleaning spell to remove the blood; it was only enough to be temporary, and Azriel knew the professor would still need to see Madam Pomfrey or someone to have it checked over properly. On the other hand, that would probably mean explaining what he was doing in the forbidden corridor – but, Azriel reasoned, being staff he probably knew about the Cerberus being there anyway as did the other staff so that would cease to be an issue.

The Drake brothers pursued Snape again as he passed by their hiding place; taking note of him attempting to conceal his newly induced limp. Before long, they were forced to hide again as Snape came into contact with Quirrell and McGonagall, and the teachers hurried off down another corridor. Now alone, the twins left their hiding place.

'What was that all about?' Alex wondered. Azriel turned round, searching the corridor for a sign anyone might be coming back. Hearing nothing, he turned back to look at his brother.

'Beats me. What I want to know is, what was Snape doing in the forbidden corridor?'

'He was definitely showing an interest in whatever's in there. By the way, how'd you know there was a Cerberus in there?' Alex eyed his brother suspiciously.

'I discovered it the hard way,' Azriel replied with a scowl. 'I followed Potter and Ron to the trophy room when Draco set up that fake wizard's duel, so did Bookworm and Neville. Draco alerted Filch, so we had to run for it. We almost got caught a couple times; Peeves didn't help. And then we found that door – I unlocked it, and there we were. I barely got out with my arm.'

'Ouch,' Alex winced slightly. 'You didn't get caught in the end?'

'No.'

'Lucky you.' Alex walked down the corridor, listening for any sudden noises and looking around alertly. Azriel followed him.

'Going back to the dungeons?' Azriel asked.

'Yeah; I figure I should get back there before Snape does, and he really does realise I'm missing.' Alex walked away back toward the dungeons and the Slytherin common room, so Azriel retreated back to the Gryffindor common room so he could do the same before McGonagall found he was not in the dorms.

He stopped when he heard voices coming from somewhere to his right. He quietly jogged over to the corner and listened; McGonagall was reprimanding someone for being out of the dormitories. Alex had gone the other way, so it couldn't have been him.

Eavesdropping, Azriel discovered that it was Potter, Ron and Bookworm that were out when they weren't supposed to. Apparently the troll _had_ left the dungeons, and somehow made its way to the girls' bathroom, he discovered. On top of that, Potter and Ron had somehow managed to knock it out with its own club; how, Azriel didn't want to know.

Bookworm had rattled off the excuse that she had gone looking for the troll herself because she'd read about them; Azriel wouldn't have been surprised if she _had_ read about them, but her excuse was incredibly flimsy; she wasn't at the Halloween feast to even know there was a troll within the school. Surely McGonagall wouldn't buy it either, but if she didn't Azriel didn't know because McGonagall said nothing of it.

Instead, McGonagall took five points from Gryffindor for Hermione's supposed recklessness, and five points each to Potter and Ron for being 'lucky'. Azriel thought it was just plain stupid of them to take on a troll, and it was even more ridiculous that Potter had broken the rules again with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

Having heard enough, Azriel slipped off down the corridor, returning safely to the common room. The Fat Lady was very unimpressed when he turned up, and refused to let him in after he gave her the password, just because he snuck off and hadn't arrived with the others. Azriel could hear McGonagall coming nearer with the other Gryffindors, making him slightly anxious to get inside before he was discovered.

The portrait grudgingly relented and let him in after Azriel threatened to slice her canvas with his daggers, with a promise she wouldn't rat him out to McGonagall. He made it inside and dashed off to his dormitory right before said professor arrived at the portrait.

Azriel returned downstairs after a few minutes, and started mingling in with his fellow students as though he'd been there the whole time. He made sure to keep an eye on Potter and the others, just so he could see what they were up to. They didn't appear to be discussing the troll any further, so he left them to their own devices.

The week passing left little time for Azriel to meet up with his brother outside of class, as the teachers worked hard to get the students back on track after the events of Halloween; what Azriel had noticed though, was that Bookworm had suddenly become a lot closer to Potter and the redhead; it probably had something to do with the troll, but he failed to see how that could have such an impact that she change her mindset in a snap decision.

Since Bookworm had now formed a tight-knit group with Potter and Ron, Azriel was increasingly wary of her, as he'd already settled into an intense dislike for the two boys over their reckless behaviour and careless attitude. And so it was that Azriel learned that they too were interested in what was in the forbidden corridor after overhearing a conversation between them one night before the first Quidditch match of the school season in the morning.

Potter had gone to see Professor Snape in order to retrieve a book that Snape had confiscated off him; he'd come back looking flushed, and told the others in a low whisper that he'd seen Snape complaining to Filch about the Cerberus while changing the bandages on his bitten leg.

'You know what this means?' Potter said breathlessly, 'he tried to get past that three-headed dog at Halloween!' Azriel could personally attest to that; he'd seen Snape go in there himself. 'That's where he was going when he saw him – he's after whatever it's guarding!' The obvious conclusion. 'And I'd bet my broomstick _he_ let that troll in, to make a diversion!'

You'd probably lose your broomstick then, Azriel thought bluntly. Granted, the troll was a perfect diversion but it seemed unlikely that Snape would have anything to do with trolls; he came off as a lot cleverer than that given the subject he taught.

'No – he wouldn't,' Hermione said. She had the common sense to realise the same thing Azriel had. 'I know he's not very nice, but he wouldn't try and steal something Dumbledore was keeping safe.'

'Honestly, Hermione, you think all teachers are saints or something,' snapped Ron. 'I'm with Harry. I wouldn't put anything past Snape. But what's he after? What's that dog guarding?'

Azriel had heard enough; he got up and walked over to the portrait. Hermione was startled, having seemingly forgotten they were not alone in the common room.

'Where are you going?' Hermione asked instinctively, trying to cover up her embarrassment at not being entirely observant.

'Library. Looking for a book with some references I need for my homework.' Hermione accepted that answer, so she let Azriel go. It was still early in the evening, so Azriel was safe to be out at this time.

He was not, in fact, going to the library. Instead, he walked down to the dungeons looking for the Slytherin common room, but he couldn't find a portrait big enough to be the entrance. He stopped near the potions class and reached out for Alex with his telepathy.

'Alex, you there? I'm trying to find your common room,' Azriel thought, looking in both directions.

_I'm here. Where are you?_

'Outside the potions classroom.' Alex telepathically directed his brother to the common room entrance; it was a section of blank wall. It looked damp.

_Wait a second; I can't let you in, but I'm coming out from my dorm to meet you._

'Sure, bro.' Azriel leaned casually against the opposite wall, looking around at the deserted corridor and trying not to shiver at the cold. The wall before him opened up a few moments later, and Alex stepped outside, smirking with amusement.

'What's up with you?' Azriel chuckled.

'Oh nothing, just embarrassed Draco in the common room for his supreme lack of wizard's honour. Really, who calls a fake wizards' duel as a prank?' Azriel had to agree with this so he grinned at his brother as they stood for a few moments in companionable silence.

'You wanted to talk?' Alex asked, after a few moments. Alex walked off down the corridor and Azriel followed, wondering what had amused his brother so much.

'Yeah, I wanted to talk. About Potter.' Azriel frowned, recalling all he needed to discuss with Alex.

'What's he done now?' Alex sighed, mood dampened.

'Well, Bookworm seems to be a lot closer to him and Red now.'

'Red? What happened to using his name?'

'I'm really starting to not like him,' Azriel growled. 'He gets all these wild and stupid ideas in his head and even when Bookworm slaps him repeatedly in the face with logic he's still a stubborn and blind mule. And Potter's above the law apparently; took on that troll and got lucky.' Azriel scowled at the injustice of it all. 'Oh, and they're interested in whatever's in the forbidden corridor.'

This caught Alex's interest. He asked his brother why they would be so concerned.

'They know Snape tried to get in there; Potter had a book confiscated by the dear potions master –' Alex scoffed at his brother's use of the word 'dear', '- and he found out for himself today when he tried to get his book back. Discovered Snape talking with Filch about the Cerberus while changing the bandages on his leg wound.'

'So they know he's after whatever's in there. Check. Anything else?' Alex curled up at the head of his bed, watching his brother attentively.

'There's a Gringotts connection after all. Apparently, on the day of the attempted robbery, Potter was there. At the vault in question in fact; Potter was with Hagrid at the time, probably sent there by Dumbledore. The vault was emptied hours before the attempted theft. So I think it's safe to assume that whatever was in the attempted vault is somewhere in the forbidden corridor.

'It's most likely underneath the Cerberus, because it's standing over a trap door. Obviously, we have no idea what's through that trap door because I've only been in that corridor once, and even then I never went past the door. Snape clearly didn't either, since his leg got mauled before he could do whatever he was trying to do.

'Anyway, it sounds like Potter and Red are gonna try and figure out what's in there for themselves. And now that they've got Bookworm on side, I'd hazard a guess that she's gonna help them.' Azriel stood up and began pacing the length of the room.

'They're planning to go after it too, do you think?' Alex asked.

'I think so. Potter already seems to think he's above rules. I don't think it'd surprise me if he tries to get his hands on whatever's down there. It'll be just one more rule to break for him.'

'So, we get there first.' Alex said plainly. Azriel stopped in his tracks.

'What?'

'We get there first, and we beat Potter at his own game. Snape loses. Potter loses. Whatever is being protected, stays protected. If we have a hold of this thing, no one else can get at it.' Alex's eyes were sparkling. Azriel could tell if they did this, his brother would relish every minute of it – the challenge and the goal of keeping the secret object from all other seeking parties. It was the perfect test of their mettle to prove they had what it took to become Aurors.

'You're on.' Azriel smirked back.


	6. Chapter 5: A Hidden Agenda

**A/N:** Since it took me so long to update this story again, I'm giving you a second chapter. Enjoy, and I hope you like the story so far!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 5: A Hidden Agenda

The next morning dawned very bright and cold. The Great Hall was full of the delicious smell of fried sausages and the cheerful chatter of everyone looking forward to a good Quidditch match.

Only two people weren't as enthusiastic about the day's match. Harry Potter - who, Azriel had heard through the grapevine, would be making his debut as the Gryffindor Seeker in today's match - and Azriel himself, who had better things to do than watch Potter make a fool of himself in front of the entire school.

A few seats down from him at the breakfast table, Bookworm and Red were trying to get Potter to eat something before the match, with assistance from Seamus. They weren't having the best of luck, and Azriel did not bother trying to assist.

By eleven o'clock the whole school seemed to be out in the stands around the Quidditch pitch. Many students, like Alex, had binoculars. The seats might be raised high in the air but it was still difficult to see what was going on sometimes.

Alex had gone up to the Slytherin stands to view the match, and Azriel had gone with the other Gryffindors to his own. The other boys had all pitched in to create a 'Potter For President' banner to display at the match, featuring a Gryffindor lion. Bookworm had enchanted the banner so that the paint flashed different colours. It was just as well none of them had thought to ask for Azriel's input because he certainly wouldn't have.

Azriel could see from up above that Madam Hooch was the referee as the Gryffindor and Slytherin teams emerged from the dressing rooms, the Gryffindors wearing scarlet robes and the Slytherins wearing an identical set in emerald.

He couldn't hear what they were saying but it seemed like Madam Hooch was giving them a pre-match set of ground rules; she seemed to be directing a comment toward Flint, a sixth year according to Alex. He was somewhat amused; it'd be interesting to see Flint's reaction if Gryffindor actually managed to win.

The players clambered onto their brooms and hovered a few feet off the ground until Madam Hooch gave the signal that the game could commence. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle. Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air. They were off.

'And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too –'

'JORDAN!'

'Sorry, Professor.'

The Weasley twins' friend, Lee Jordan, was doing the commentary for the match, closely watched by Professor McGonagall. Judging from his opening statements, Azriel questioned his fit for the job, as his neutrality was obviously questionable.

'And she's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Alicia Spinnet, a good find of Oliver Wood's, last year only a reserve – back to Johnson and – no, Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Marcus Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like an eagle up there, he's going to sc- no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Wood and Gryffindor take the Quaffle – that's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by Slytherin – that's Adrian Pucey speeding off toward the goal posts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Fred or George Weasley, can't tell which – nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Johnson back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off she goes – she's really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goal posts are ahead – come on, now, Angelina – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDOR SCORE!'

Gryffindor cheers filled the cold air, with howls and moans coming from the Slytherins, save Alex who considered this to be a decent play, and was discreetly clapping in congratulation. Azriel watched his brother for a second to learn from Alex's face that he was both amused and annoyed at his house's ire.

'Budge up there, move along,' Hagrid, the half-giant, was making his way through the Gryffindor stands; Azriel pushed back into his seat, feeling squashed as the half-giant squeezed past him. Hagrid sat down with Bookworm and Red; Azriel tried to ignore them.

'Bin watchin' from me hut,' Azriel overheard Hagrid say, 'But it isn't the same as bein' in the crowd. No sign of the Snitch yet, eh?'

Azriel took a cursory glance around the Quidditch pitch; no sign of the little golden ball. Potter was circling around the outside of the other players and also at a greater altitude, looking around himself for the elusive little thing.

'Slytherin in possession,' Lee Jordan was saying, 'Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys and Chaser Bell and speeds toward the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?'

A murmur ran through the crowd as Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle; too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear. Azriel followed its path for a few seconds, but it had ducked around another player and was lost again. Above, Potter had fallen into a sharp dive; Azriel guessed he had seen the Snitch too, and was in a better position to see where it had gone.

Slytherin Seeker Terence Higgs has seen it too. Neck and neck the two Seekers hurtled at the Snitch – all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in mid-air to watch. Potter was faster than Higgs – he put on an extra burst of speed –

WHAM! A roar of rage echoed from the Gryffindors, and Azriel was nowhere near impressed either – Marcus Flint had blocked Potter on purpose and Potter's broom had spun off course. Potter barely managed to hold on to it.

'Foul!' screamed the Gryffindors. Looking over at Alex's face, Azriel found that the Slytherin Drake was not any more amused than he was – in stark contrast to the remainder of Slytherin house, who was celebrating their team's foul play. For Flint's indiscretion, Gryffindor was awarded a penalty shot. In all the confusion of course, the Snitch had disappeared again.

A few seats down, Dean was complaining loudly, ordering Madam Hooch to show Flint a red card; he had to be reminded that this was Quidditch, not what Dean called football, and that Red had no idea what a 'red card' was. Hagrid was on Dean's side, though.

'They oughta change the rules; Flint coulda knocked Harry out of the air.'

Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides. Although his neutrality was obviously questionable, Azriel couldn't blame him.

'So – after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating –'

'Jordan!' growled Professor McGonagall.

'I mean, after that open and revolting foul –'

'_Jordan, I'm warning you –_'

'All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession.'

Azriel was watching Potter try to find the snitch again when his broom gave a sudden lurch. Not being able to see the Seeker that clearly, he wasn't sure if this was just a ruse to make the Slytherin Seeker think he'd seen something.

When it happened again, Azriel wasn't so sure it was a ruse. He looked over at his brother, peaking his eyebrow. Alex returned the gesture, and he knew the brothers were in agreement – something was wrong with this picture.

They watched as the broom jerked and swished, slowly carrying Potter higher and higher from the game. By now they were sure Potter was struggling to regain control of the runaway broomstick, and they had also deduced that someone or something was bewitching the thing to behave oddly – a new broomstick provided by the school itself would not be seemingly defective – or at least not on its own.

Throughout all this, Lee was still commentating.

'Slytherin in possession – Flint with the Quaffle – passes Spinnet – passes Bell – hit hard in the face by a bludger, hope it broke his nose – only joking, Professor – Slytherin score – oh no ...'

The Slytherins were cheering. No one else had yet noticed the odd behaviour of Potter's broomstick – at least until Hagrid spotted the boy through his binoculars.

'Dunno what Harry thinks he's doing,' the half-giant mumbled. 'If I didn't know better, I'd say he'd lost control of his broom ... but he can't have ...' Give the monkey a banana, Azriel thought, dryly.

People began to take notice of Potter now, pointing up at him from the stands, where the broom was rolling over and over. Potter was barely managing to hang on with both hands. The crowd gasped as the brook gave a jerk and Potter was thrown off – only he still refused to let go; now hanging on for dear life with only one hand.

'Did something happen to it when Flint blocked him?' Azriel heard Seamus whisper.

'Can't have,' Hagrid said, his voice shaking. 'Can't nothing interfere with a broomstick except powerful Dark magic – no kid could do that to a Nimbus Two Thousand.'

Azriel telepathically relayed this little nugget of information to Alex, and the brothers agreed silently that with their telekinesis combined, they could probably duplicate the effect; a little bit of info that debunked Hagrid's claim. They were the only Gifted wizards in the school though (at least that they knew of), which ruled out the theory that it could be another of their kind.

At Hagrid's words, Bookworm seized the pair of binoculars, but instead of looking up at Potter, she started looking frantically at the crowd. Azriel glanced at her in annoyance and confusion, not sure what she was expecting to find.

'What are you doing?' moaned Red, grey-faced.

'I knew it,' Bookworm gasped, 'Snape – look.'

Azriel saw Red grab the binoculars, and then turned his attention to the Slytherin stands where Snape was sitting. Sure enough, he had his eyes fixed on Potter and was muttering non-stop under his breath. Azriel knew Snape had a distinct dislike for Potter judging from their interaction in Potions, but was still mildly surprised anyone would try something like this in such a public arena.

Over in the Ravenclaw stands, Azriel could spot Quirrell doing the same. Azriel couldn't quite tell what it was exactly, but his entire demeanour seemed different; Azriel wondered if it was because he was concentrating to the best of his abilities to counteract whatever magic Snape was attempting.

'He's doing something – jinxing the broom,' said Bookworm.

'What should we do?'

'Leave it to me.'

Azriel didn't particularly like the sound of that; he didn't know what hare-brained scheme the girl was likely to come up with. On top of that, she was bound to try something difficult and potentially dangerous given her penchant for pushing herself to her limits. Azriel wouldn't be surprised if she finally bit off more than she could chew, and whatever she attempted would backfire.

In the game, the Weasley twins were trying their hardest to reach Potter and pull him onto one of their brooms; however, Potter's broom kept flying higher away from them whenever they drew near. In the confusion, Flint managed to score five times without anyone noticing. When he tried for a sixth, Azriel finally saw, and subtly nudged the Quaffle with his telekinesis so it hit the goal hoop and missed. He got some minor satisfaction out of Flint's grimace of anger and confusion.

'Come on, Hermione,' Red muttered desperately.

Azriel watched as Bookworm fought her way across to the stand where Snape stood, and was now racing along the row behind him; she didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Quirrell head first into the row in front.

'That's real smooth of you Bookworm,' Azriel muttered darkly, 'put the one person trying to save Potter's hide out of commission.'

Reaching Snape, Bookworm crouched down, pulled out her wand and whispered a few, well-chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand on to the hem of Snape's robes. Azriel wanted to know what that spell was, loathe as he was to admit it out loud, as he thought the spell could be quite useful.

It took perhaps thirty seconds for Snape to realise that he was on fire. A sudden yelp that Azriel barely heard suggested that Bookworm had done her job. Scooping the fire off him into a little jar Azriel assumed had been in her pocket, she scrambled back along the row – probably hoping Snape would never know what had happened.

Apparently, Bookworm's little ploy had done the trick. Up in the air, Potter was suddenly able to clamber back onto his broom. Looks like Quirrell's services weren't needed after all, Azriel mused.

'Neville, you can look!' Red said. Neville had buried his face into Hagrid's jacket for the past five minutes, sobbing in fear.

Potter was speeding towards the ground when the crowd saw him clap his hand to his mouth as though he was about to be sick – he hit the pitch on all fours – coughed – and something golden flew into his hand.

'I've got the Snitch!' Azriel could hear the Gryffindor Seeker shout, waving it above his head, and the game ended in complete confusion.

'He didn't _catch_ it, he nearly _swallowed_ it,' Azriel muttered. Flint had agreed with him, as twenty minutes after the match, Flint was still howling about it. It made no difference though – Potter hadn't broken any rules and Lee Jordan was still happily shouting the result – Gryffindor had won by one hundred and seventy points to sixty.

Potter, Red and Bookworm weren't anywhere to be found during the festivities, having been led away by Hagrid toward his hut. Azriel wasn't joining in either; instead, he and his brother were walking back to the castle together while the party continued on the Quidditch pitch.

On their way, they could hear the other Gryffindors talking with the half-giant.

'It was Snape,' Red was explaining to Potter, 'Hermione and I saw him. He was cursing your broomstick, muttering, he wouldn't take his eyes off you.'

'Rubbish,' said Hagrid, who hadn't heard a word of what had gone on next to him in the stands. 'Why would Snape do somethin' like that?'

'I could think of a few reasons,' Alex hissed. Azriel kept him quiet as they stopped, hiding behind the nearest tree so they could eavesdrop. The group went inside Hagrid's hut, so the Drake twins snuck over to the window so they could clearly listen to the conversation inside.

'I found out something about him,' Potter told Hagrid. 'He tried to get past that three-headed dog –'

'Cerberus,' Bookworm interjected pointedly.

'- that Cerberus at Halloween. It bit him. We think he was trying to steal whatever it's guarding.' Potter finished. Azriel noted that credit was not given as to where they learned the correct term for said three-headed dog. Probably a good thing, he decided.

Inside, Hagrid was, to say the least, surprised by this revelation. The Drake brothers heard the sound of shattering porcelain – the half-giant had apparently dropped something.

'How do you know about Fluffy?' he said.

'_Fluffy?_' The Drake brothers mouthed the word to each other while the Gryffindors inside vocalised their surprise at its given name.

'Yeah – he's mine – bought him off a Greek chappie I met in the pub las' year – I leant him to Dumbledore to guard the –'

'Yes?' said Potter eagerly. Azriel could have jumped right through the window and slapped him; Hagrid was about to answer the riddle in one fell swoop and Potter had to open his mouth and blow it. Hagrid realised his crucial almost-slip and refrained from finishing his sentence.

'Now, don't ask me any more,' said Hagrid gruffly. 'That's top secret, that is.'

Of course it was, Azriel thought darkly, and thanks to Potter it's still a secret. Azriel glared at the wall, imagining he was drilling a hole through Potter's head on the other side.

'But Snape's trying to _steal_ it.' True as this may be, that wasn't likely to make Hagrid open up again.

'Rubbish,' said Hagrid again. 'Snape's a Hogwarts teacher; he'd do nothin' of the sort.'

'So why did he just try and kill Harry?' cried Bookworm. Good question, although it still wouldn't provide any answers or alleviate the situation at all. Clearly the afternoon's events seemed to have changed her mind about Snape; making him the first teacher thus far she had pushed off the pedestal she'd built for him in her mind.

'I know a jinx when I see one, Hagrid; I've read all about them! You've got to keep eye contact, and Snape wasn't blinking at all, I saw him!'

Bookworm and her _reading_. Was there anything she could tell them that she _hadn't_ found in a book? Also, she hadn't bothered to notice that Quirrell was doing exactly the same as Snape, muttering without blinking while staring directly at Potter; even if Quirrell was the one trying to apply a counter-jinx. At any rate, Hagrid was still having none of the Gryffindors' argument.

'I'm tellin' yeh, yer wrong!' said Hagrid hotly. 'I don' know why Harry's broom acted like that, but Snape wouldn' try an' kill a student! Now, listen to me, all three of yeh. It's dangerous. You forget that dog, an' you forget what it's guardin', that's between Professor Dumbledore an' Nicolas Flamel –'

Immediately, Azriel ditched the sour mood. Finally, something they could use! This scrap of information must have been crucial because once again Hagrid halted in his tracks.

'Aha!' said Potter, 'So there's someone called Nicolas Flamel involved, is there?'

Great detective work Sherlock, Azriel thought, without sarcasm as he was too busy considering this new information. He and Alex got up and quickly went inside the castle before they could be found by Hagrid or any of the other Gryffindors, in order to avoid a confrontation or having to explain what they were doing outside.

The brothers retreated to the Library, where they found a table hidden in the back corner, away from the other students. They sat across from each other and stared in silence. Alex was the first to break the spell.

'Nicolas Flamel, huh?' His passive face slowly eased into a smirk. Azriel couldn't prevent his own face from doing the same. 'You thinking what I'm thinking, Az?'

'If you're thinking you have a feeling you know Nicolas Flamel, I agree with you.' Azriel looked around and listened to make sure there were no students lurking nearby. He leaned across the table and whispered to his brother.

'He's that alchemist Dad told us about. You remember, don't you? How Dad used to tell us bedtime stories about the man who created the elixir of life?'

'How could I forget, that used to be my favourite story,' Alex whispered back. 'Do you think it's something of Flamel's that's being guarded here? The elixir itself, maybe?'

'It's gotta be. What else, relating to Flamel, could be so important? The elixir must be beneath the trap door; or at the very least the ingredients needed to make it.' Azriel glanced around again.

'What if it's not the elixir though, but the recipe for it?' Alex leaned back in his chair. 'There's no known record of a recipe in existence; clearly there has to be one otherwise the elixir would be impossible to make. The only thing was, it was never found.'

'Flamel had to have had it somewhere, though. He'd want to preserve a record of it, surely, and not rely on his mind to keep the secret, in case something happened to him and the knowledge was lost forever.' Azriel's mood was slowly beginning to settle again; he was realising that for as many questions this new information answered, it only expanded on the other questions that were still being posed.

'Flamel and Dumbledore must have some history if he's trusting that the secret will remain safe here,' Alex said. 'There'd have to be an enormous amount of trust involved with such a thing; anyone would want to get their hands on the elixir of life.'

'That leads us back to the question of who wants it – we know Snape is after it, but how does he know what it is? Or how it's even here? Also, given the nature of what's at stake here, wouldn't it be reasonable that other people would be after it too?' Azriel's thoughts were racing, trying to process all the new possibilities and problems brought about by the knowledge of the hidden secret.

'We already suspect that Bookworm, Potter and Red have an interest in what's down there. But by the sounds of it, they have no idea what it is, or even how valuable it is. All they know is that it's valuable and Snape wants it. Still, that's enough reason for us to keep on our toes around them. We know how much they know now, but who knows what they could learn in future?'

'I'll have to keep tabs on them, won't I?' Azriel suggested.

'How would you propose to do that?' Alex inquired.

'Well, I'm in the same House for a start; that already puts me in a far closer position than you. I can play the fly on the wall, listen in wherever I can to make sure they haven't learned too much, and so we can stay one step ahead of them.'

'You're not always gonna be around though; you'd have no way of knowing what they talk about when you're not there.'

'I'll deal with that when I come to it,' Azriel sighed. 'Right now, we just need to come up with a rough plan of action regarding how we're gonna handle this situation.'

'Alright, so let's start from the top. What do we know?' Alex began to think about this question.

'The thing guarded in the trapdoor is the elixir of life discovered by Nicolas Flamel, or at least is something connected to the elixir. So far, the only people we're certain know of this are ourselves, Bookworm, Red and Potter, and Snape.' Azriel counted off the different points on his fingers.

'And Dumbledore,' Alex added. Azriel nodded in agreement.

'Except for Dumbledore, we're all after the thing down that trap door. Ourselves, in order to protect it; Snape in order to use it for some personal gain I imagine; as for the others? Well, god knows what _their_ intentions are for the thing.

'Also, the secret was in a Gringotts vault which was emptied immediately prior to an attempted robbery of the item. Potter bore witness to the emptying of the vault, but does not personally know anything about the secret other than its size; it's small.

'Finally, I figure that maybe the Cerberus – Fluffy – is not the only obstacle guarding the secret. Given the nature of the secret – being something to do with the elixir of life – a mere Cerberus is not going to cut it in terms of protection. There has to be more levels of protection in place, which also means there are more people who know about the secret, at least to the point where there is one.'

Alex sank back into his seat, taking the time to fully digest this information in a coherent structured form. He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

'This hasn't really helped us get any closer to it, has it? All we have is a better understanding of what's even being guarded – we still have no clue how we're actually going to get to it. And you have a point about extra levels of protection; we have no idea what they are, how many there are, or who set them. This alone makes the question of how many people know even harder to answer – we can't be certain how many more people know, and how much they know. This is really only giving us more questions rather than answering them!'

Azriel nodded in agreement, having reached that same conclusion earlier.

'So now what?' Azriel sighed, getting up from his chair. 'We're not really any closer than we were before, but we still have to make some progress.'

'We should probably look into Flamel himself, and anything we can dig up on the elixir of life. I'm guessing and hoping that Potter and his friends don't know of Flamel and won't know where to start looking. If we can pinpoint _exactly_ what it is we're dealing with, then we may move on to figuring out how many other ways it's being protected, and how we're going to get past them.'

'You've got a point there, bro.' Azriel too removed himself from his seat. 'As long as they try looking at modern wizards, they shouldn't really find anything of value; given Flamel's really over 650 years old. Being that he's a wizard, Bookworm shouldn't have heard of him; that'll take care of that angle for a while at least. We should still work quickly before she figures out they're on the wrong track.'

'We should probably start tomorrow. I don't know if too many people will want to see us together since your Quidditch team just beat ours.'

'Well in all honesty? Your team sucks. Resorting to cheating in order to get anywhere in the game is not exactly sportsmanship.' Azriel retorted. Alex snorted in response.

'Agreed. At least the team that played fair were rewarded for their efforts – given the circumstances.' Alex was, of course, referring to the little jinxing incident that had occurred during the match.

'I think it's time for lunch,' Azriel said, changing the subject. 'I'm getting hungry; I should have had more for breakfast.' He started for the library exit; Alex got up to follow him.

'Should we risk sitting at each other's tables today?' Alex asked, knowing full well the answer would be 'no'. Azriel knew this, but he answered anyway.

'I think the Slytherins are too volatile right now; if I sit with them I'll get slaughtered by them because my team won. On the other hand if you sit with us, you'll get slaughtered by them because you're fraternising with the enemy.' To prove his point, Azriel shot a warning glare to Marcus Flint who was going the other way. Flint looked like he wanted to hurt either Drake just because they were there, and he wasn't particularly fussed which one.

The Drakes separated once they reached the Great Hall; the Slytherin table was gloomy and bitter over their first loss in over six years. Alex was left alone by the other Slytherins from his year level during lunch, but he wasn't remotely upset about it. It was actually somewhat comical to see him acting like nothing was wrong at all while the rest of his year were sulking.

Over at the Gryffindor table, the enthusiasm had barely begun to die down, as the entire house treated an ordinary lunch as a banquet in Potter's honour. Red, of course, was loving it being near Potter's limelight while Bookworm was trying to enjoy herself despite dwelling on what she had learned earlier this afternoon – and Azriel could tell she was making good with the dwelling.

Lunch was otherwise uneventful, as was the rest of the day. Azriel finished off the rest of his leftover homework before dinner, which was another non-issue. He'd had to assist Neville getting into the common room, because the Weasley twins had pulled a prank on him as part of their celebrations and had temporarily rendered Neville unable to speak by charming a pastry to enlarge his tongue.

Bookworm, of course, was not impressed to discover this and alerted Percy Weasley, but not before reverting Neville's tongue to normal. She was vocal in her disapproval of the twins' behaviour but all she had gotten for her trouble was a complaint that she needed to lighten up, followed by a spell from the twins that caused her hair and face to flash different colours. The girl had shut herself in the girls' dormitory and didn't re-emerge until she had undone the damage to her pride caused by the twins' magic. Azriel had waited until she was out of the common room before he would allow himself a chuckle at her expense.

That night, Azriel had another dream. He dreamt that he was in the Forbidden Corridor again with the Cerberus – Fluffy – only in this dream, he was alone, and the dog was not attacking. Instead, he watched in confusion and fascination as the three heads argued with each other in human English. One of them had Professor Snape's voice. Another used Hagrid's gruff brogue. The third was that of Azriel himself. Professor Dumbledore stood beside Azriel, ignoring the boy as though he weren't there, and listening calmly to the three heads of the Cerberus.

The three heads were arguing about the elixir of life and why it should or shouldn't be left alone. Snape, of course, wanted the stone for himself so he could live forever and become the most powerful Dark wizard in the world. Hagrid begged against this, preferring the secret to be left where it is so it won't cause harm to anyone. Azriel just wanted to keep the secret away from Snape and he was prepared to fight for it's safety where Hagrid did not.

On the sidelines, the human Azriel saw another figure watching passively. Having never met the man in person, he doubted the dream version was what he really looked like, but Azriel was sure it was Nicolas Flamel himself. When the Cerberus realized Flamel was there, all three heads began to talk to him at once, arguing why they should be the one to be in control of the secret. Flamel ignored all three heads, instead turning to look directly at the human Azriel, whom the dog also seemed oblivious to.

'If you want to find the stone, you're going to have to find the traitor's hidden agenda.'

The dream faded after this, and Azriel slumbered the rest of the night in silence. He awoke remembering the dream vividly, thinking he'd need to share it with Alex when he remembered an important detail – didn't Flamel say something about a _stone_? Azriel wondered where the dream had come from, but in his haste he paid little attention to this. He shot out of bed, dressing in a hurry so he could get to Alex as soon as he could, having gotten a sudden idea where to begin their search.


	7. Chapter 6: Stones In Glass Houses

**A/N:** This next chapter is getting away from the action at Hogwarts for a little while; a little change of scenery so the Drake brothers aren't so married to the original storyline.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 6: Throwing Stones In Glass Houses

Azriel was the first one up that morning out of his year level, so no one witnessed him leave. He was nearly at the Slytherin common room entrance when Alex emerged, dressed and ready to tackle the boys' research.

First off, the boys went back up to the Great Hall for breakfast. There was hardly anyone up at this time, so the brothers could sit together at the Gryffindor table where they could talk privately away from anyone else who was awake.

'Do you know where to start searching?' Azriel asked his brother. Alex nodded as he helped himself to two slices of toast.

'Given Flamel's age, we should look in records dated around the early 1300s, that or any history books focusing on that era.' Alex applied butter to his toast and left it for a few seconds to melt and soak into the slices.

'We should also try another avenue,' Azriel suggested. Alex looked up from his toast, mid-bite.

'And what avenue are you suggesting?' Alex asked, before completing the bite he'd started.

'I had a dream last night. About the Cerberus. Most of the details are irrelevant, but Flamel himself was in it. Obviously we've never met the man, but there was something he said to me that was very telling.'

Alex's curiosity was piqued, so he turned in his seat to face his brother.

'Something about the secret hidden beneath the trap door?'

'Exactly. Now obviously since our Gift is telekinesis and not precognition, this dream was not prophetic because it didn't tell us anything we didn't already know. In my dream, Flamel mentioned the Stone.' Azriel watched the recognition spark on Alex's face.

'The Philosopher's Stone, are you serious?' Alex whispered almost in awe. 'Of course I remember that. I always made Dad tell us what he knew about it whenever he told us the bedtime story about Flamel. The Stone is said to be important in the making of the elixir of life, but it's existence was never confirmed so the alchemical world was convinced there had to be an alternate recipe and that the Stone itself was a fabrication designed to discourage others from trying to recreate the elixir themselves.'

Azriel nodded in silence, taking a brief glance to make sure no one was paying any attention.

'Flamel also said we have to figure out the traitor's hidden agenda if we want to find it,' Azriel said. 'Whatever that means, I'm not exactly sure but I'm assuming it relates to Snape because he obviously fits the bill as a traitor. I mean, he's a teacher so he's meant to be loyal to the school, but if he's after the Stone for himself, that would be a betrayal.'

'Don't you find it weird though, that you had this dream now? When we're digging into this mystery?' Alex asked, sparing a thought for his question.

'Seems natural to me. There's nothing in the dream we didn't already know in some way; it's all stuff that's been in the back of my mind. It's just the way it presented itself, is all. I do admit though, the timing was incredibly convenient.'

'Alright, so we also check for any references to the Philosopher's Stone when we go to the library. Got it.' Alex said. Just then, Bookworm showed up for breakfast. She looked curiously at Alex as she sat down annoying close to them.

'What're you doing here?' she asked. Alex rolled his eyes in exasperation.

'Will no one allow me to spend _any_ time with my brother? What do you _think_ I'm doing here?' Alex snapped. Bookworm frowned and looked down at her as-yet empty plate, flushing slightly.

'Excuse me,' Bookworm replied with forced irritation to cover up her embarrassment, 'but I've been around enough Slytherins to be on my guard around them; they've proven to be quite unpleasant.'

'Don't judge a book by its cover, honey,' Alex spat. This served to further embarrass Bookworm, as she blushed furiously when reminded of her almost religious love for the written word.

'Alex, be nice.' Azriel murmured lowly. Alex relented and left Bookworm alone. The brothers finished eating in silence, and didn't spare Bookworm a second glance as they left together. Their silence continued all the way to the library, only breaking when they asked the librarian, Madam Pince, where to locate the History and Alchemy sections.

Splitting up, Alex went off in search of some relevant history books. Azriel, having been the one to have the dream, went over to the Alchemy section where he looked for anything he could find on the Philosopher's Stone. Fifteen minutes later, they met at the hidden table in the back corner of the library, with books in hand.

They checked with each other which books they'd selected then each divided the books amongst themselves. Alex started with one of the books on alchemy while Azriel took a history book. The first one Azriel picked up didn't really have anything useful other than a few passing mentions of the elixir of life and Flamel; nothing concrete about either, or about the stone. He set this book aside and picked up the next one. This one was a book on alchemy.

Looking in the index, he found plenty of references to the Philosopher's Stone, so he turned to the relevant pages in the book. It was mentioned in the chapter on gold as one of its major properties; Azriel took a mental note of this, and checked the other references.

This book agreed with the theory that the Stone existed, and that it indeed played a major part in the creation of the elixir of life. The two major functions of the stone put together explicitly confirmed the value of the item to the Drake brothers, reinforcing the idea that anyone would want to get their hands on it.

'I'm hoping Snape has a lot of patience on his hands,' Azriel commented dryly. 'It'd give us more time to figure out how to overcome his greed.'

Alex grunted in response, not paying full attention as he read a passage from another book. He sighed in frustration and picked up the last book, titled _Great Wizards of the 13th Century and their Astounding Discoveries._

'Look at this!' Alex exclaimed after a few minutes reading the referred pages. He showed Azriel the pages and read out loud.

_The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Philosopher's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal._

_There have been many reports of the Philosopher's Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Mr Nicolas Flamel, the noted alchemist and opera-lover. Mr Flamel, who celebrated his six hundred and sixty-fifth birthday last year, enjoys a quiet life in Devon with his wife, Perenelle (six hundred and fifty-eight)._

'So there's only one Stone. Good. At least there's no alternative stone for Snape to go after, and it's not like we've found anything on how the stone is actually made.' Azriel was slightly bitter, not completely seeing how this information was useful.

'Az, look at it this way. We know the stone's value, which means we know Snape's motive for wanting it –'

'Anyone would want it,' Azriel cut in.

'- and we know it's the only one in existence, meaning as long as it's here, Snape or anyone else who wants to get their mitts on it, has to go through that Cerberus first. But we're gonna get there first, remember?'

'I'm still failing to see the big picture here,' Azriel said flatly.

'We know all we need to about Flamel and the stone; now all we need is the connection between Flamel and Dumbledore. Thus concluding part one of our operation,' Alex said, 'then we can move on to figuring out the other layers of protection guarding the stone and who's involved with it.'

'I'm following you...' Azriel said slowly.

'We should put these back, we don't need them anymore.' Alex said, getting up and collecting the history books. Azriel nodded, picking up the alchemy books. They put all the books back on their respective shelves.

Alex had just put back _Great Wizards of the 13th Century_ when he turned around to find Bookworm. He grunted and wordlessly slid past her, ignoring the odd look she shot him. He met Azriel out the front of the library, and they left together; not looking back to notice Bookworm pick out the book Alex had just put back.

Just down the corridor, Azriel spied a discarded _Famous Witches And Wizards_ card pushed aside near the wall. Feeling curious that Filch hadn't found it yet, he picked it up. Dumbledore. Idly, he turned it over to read the blurb on the back of the card and stopped abruptly.

'We just found our connection,' he said. Alex halted and returned to him. 'On this card, it says Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood _and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel!_'

Alex only grinned at him, smirking like a Cheshire cat. Azriel returned the gesture and they split up to return to their respective common rooms.

They couldn't focus much more on the Stone or what was guarding it, for the last couple weeks of term before the Christmas holidays. Classes were getting more intense as they tried to wrap things up before the holidays began.

It struck home for the Drake brothers how close Christmas was when one morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of snow. The lake had frozen solid and the Weasley twins had been punished for bewitching snowballs to throw themselves at Professor Quirrell, bouncing off the back of his turban.

The few owls that had tried to venture through the stormy weather had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid, except for Alex's owl Persephone who had wisely taken to flying when the weather was calmer.

The twins had never seen snow before, and it was lucky that their parents had bought them suitable clothes to wear in such conditions; Azriel had already decided that he hated the cold.

No one could wait for the holidays to start. While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the draughty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.

'I do feel so sorry,' said Draco, one Potions class, 'for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home.' He was looking over at Potter as he spoke.

'Oh, feeling sorry for ourselves, are we? My condolences,' Alex drawled in response, adopting a look of mock sympathy. 'At least Azriel and I are going home to a family that cares.'

Draco flushed in anger, glaring at the Slytherin Drake. Potter seemed to have been unaffected by Draco's taunt; and it had been Draco himself that had fallen victim to a successful taunt. Azriel could tell this bothered Draco immensely.

Snape had not been there to bear witness to this incident, luckily; and the lesson itself went off without a hitch, unless you counted Neville's continued misfortunate ineptitude at the subject.

When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.

'Hi, Hagrid, want any help?' Red asked, sticking his head through the branches.

'Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron.'

'Would you mind moving out of the way?' came Draco's cold drawl from behind them. 'Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose – that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to.'

Red dived at Draco just as Snape came up the stairs.

'WEASLEY!'

Red let go of the front of Draco's robes.

'He was provoked, Professor Snape,' said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. 'Malfoy was insultin' his family.'

'Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid,' said Snape silkily. 'Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you.'

Crabbe and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking. Draco tried to do the same until Azriel, who had stayed behind to observe what was happening, quietly pushed Draco into the tree with his telekinesis. Draco spluttered, looking around for the culprit. Azriel looked innocent as he brushed past, feeling Snape's glare on his back. Azriel guessed that, being a teacher, Snape must have heard about his and Alex's Gift and would have immediately suspected him.

The Drake brothers made sure their bags were all packed with all their things and holiday homework for when the holidays finally arrived. They were going back to New York for the break, and they needed to be ready to go to the Ministry where they would Floo back home.

Hades stalked behind his owner, glaring around at the other students as he followed the Drake brothers to the train, which would take them back to King's Cross station, where they would meet an escort that would take them to the Ministry. The cat's stride was elegant and proud, much like a lion appearing before his pride.

Persephone, meanwhile, was silent in her cage, sitting on top of Alex's suitcases. She was looking around intently with amber eyes, watching the organised chaos of students walking all around them.

Azriel overheard Potter and Red talking with Bookworm as they walked toward the castle entrance; apparently she was going home for the holidays herself. Good for her. Azriel didn't even bother to wonder why Potter and Red were staying for the holidays.

The first years had to take the boats again to go back to the station for the Hogwarts Express, but since they couldn't take their luggage, house elves transported the cargo to the train with their own elf magic. Hades was loaded into a carry case for the trip, something the feline was heavily opposed to, scaring the house elves by hissing at them.

Again, it was four to a boat. The Drake brothers quickly took a boat. Unfortunately, they were saddled with not only Bookworm in the same boat, but Draco had been one of the last to arrive, and the final spot in their boat was the only one left. At least they didn't have to interact during the boat trip; Bookworm had held onto a volume to read during their journey across the lake, and Draco had taken to stoically ignoring the presence of the other three.

The platform at the station was almost as busy as it had been at the beginning of the year. Not many students had chosen to stay behind at Hogwarts, so it was still rather busy trying to load themselves onto the train.

After checking that Hades and Persephone were alright in the luggage carriage, the brothers retreated to a compartment toward the back of the train where they could be separated from the other students. During the train ride, they talked about all they had been up to in classes, comparing experiences and further discussing the situation with the Philosopher's Stone.

Upon arriving at the station, they collected their luggage. Once they were back on the platform, a dark-skinned wizard approached them.

'You are Azriel and Alexander Drake, I presume?' The wizard asked; the brothers nodded in confirmation.

'I am Kingsley Shacklebolt, here to escort you to the Ministry of Magic.' The man's voice was deep and rich. Making sure they had everything, they followed Shacklebolt through the barrier back to the rest of the station, following him to a Ministry car where he helped them load their suitcases into the trunk.

They didn't talk much as they were driven through the streets of London. The trip took about half an hour, but they were soon taken to an underground parking lot somewhere. The place was mostly deserted and there were no other cars around.

They were driven all the way to the rear of the car park, where they were headed straight for the back wall. Azriel figured it was like the barrier to the platform at King's Cross, and sure enough, the car passed harmlessly straight through the wall to a hidden car park on the other side.

Here was where all the Ministry cars were housed; Shacklebolt parked the car in an empty space and helped the Drake brothers retrieve their luggage from the trunk after they had all gotten out of the vehicle.

'Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. Now if you'll please follow me, I will lead you to the Floo centre.' Shacklebolt said, and walked toward a building entrance at the end of the car park. Making sure everything was secure, the Drake brothers followed him.

The Floo Centre was a vast hall filled with fireplaces, where witches and wizards were coming and going at all sorts of random intervals. Shacklebolt led them to the end of the hall, where all the international Floo ports were situated.

'This is where I give you leave,' Shacklebolt said, with a bow of his head. 'There will be someone waiting to meet you on the other side once you reach America.'

With that, Shacklebolt left them alone. The Drake brothers made their way to an unoccupied fireplace, and one at a time they took a handful of the green Floo powder, moved their luggage into the fireplace and used the powder to get to their destination.

'Ministry of Magic, Floo Centre, America!' Azriel called out. Green flames shot up around him, and he emerged on the other side, a little sooty but otherwise unscathed. Alex emerged a moment later, sputtering from getting a lungful of ash.

'You okay, bro?' Azriel chuckled, patting his brother's back while he cleared the stuff from his lungs. Alex coughed a couple more times and breathed wheezily through his mouth. They were met half a minute later by a Ministry official.

'I see you arrived okay,' said the man. 'In one piece and all, and you're both here so I'd guess you got the right port. You might wanna remember not to breathe next time you Floo, Alex.'

'Yeah, sure. You tell me this now,' Alex wheezed.

'I've told you that before, and you never listen.'

'Okay, that's enough dad.' Azriel grinned. 'Leave him alone.'

'If you say so,' replied Antoine Drake. He hugged his sons in welcome and checked they had all their things. 'Ready to go home?'

'Sure. Can I let Hades out first? You know he doesn't like being cooped up in his cage.' Azriel replied, looking down at his cat; who was glaring at his owner for keeping him confined.

'Not until we get back home. You know they don't like animals being loose around the Ministry.' Antoine replied, shaking his head. 'Now c'mon, we've gotta Floo back home.'

The Drake twins followed their father to the main section of the Floo centre in the American Ministry of Magic building, where they went to another unused fireplace. All three of them took a handful of Floo powder, and Antoine Floo'd back home first. Alex followed, remembering to hold his breath this time when he travelled.

After the others had gone, Azriel stepped into the fireplace, wheeling his luggage behind him. Hades was quiet, knowing he'd soon be home and out of his cage.

'Drake Manor, Living Room!' Azriel called, throwing down his Floo powder. The green flames engulfed him again and he stepped out a second later into the lounge room of his home, where his father and brother were waiting for him, as were his mother and sister.

'You took your time,' Anyanka grinned. Azriel grinned back and hugged his sister. Hades mewled impatiently, so Azriel put his cage on the floor and let him out. Hades purred in thanks, rubbing himself against Azriel's leg as he stood up again.

The brothers took the time to properly re-unite with their family for the holidays, and then retired to their rooms to put away their bags. Having finished that, they sat down to a fairly early dinner; they'd gotten hungry during the all-day train ride, and had gained back a few hours of time crossing into a different time zone.

'Sorry, but I'm kinda tired now,' Azriel said shortly after finishing dinner. 'The Floo-induced jetlag's caught up to me; we'll have to get caught up properly tomorrow after I get some sleep.'

Alex agreed, and the twins retired to bed early for the night. Before getting to sleep, Alex stopped by his brother's room to talk.

'What's up?' Azriel asked, noticing his brother entering the room as Azriel sat on his bed, taking off his shirt to slip on his pyjama top.

'Just thinking,' Alex said, closing the door so they couldn't be overheard, even though the rest of their family was downstairs and out of earshot. 'About the stone, y'know?'

'May I ask why?' Azriel looked his brother in the eye.

'Well we're home for the holidays aren't we? And the stone is still there – so, presumably, is Snape. Should we really be here when a lot of students are gone? I mean, Snape has plenty of time now to make a move for the stone and no-one's really there to stand in his way'

'But Snape hasn't figured out how to get past everything, remember?' Azriel replied buttoning up his pyjama top.

'I know, but I know he's not stupid. What if he figures out that he's not the only one who knows what he's up to? What if he figures out students have gotten wind of what's happening? You know he'd suspect us, he knows we're smart and I doubt he'd trust us very much.'

'You've put a lot of thought into this, haven't you?' Azriel removed his pants and picked up his pyjama bottoms to replace them.

'That I have. It sounds paranoid but I just wanna be cautious. You know Snape is no-one to take lightly; get on his bad side and there's no telling just what he's capable of doing.'

'You've got a point there. The man has a definite mean streak; and he's already sadistic enough as is in class; I wouldn't wanna push my luck with that guy.'

'So you know what we've gotta do. We've gotta be careful about throwing stones in the glass-house.'

'Throwing stones, huh? Ironic, given the Stone we're referring to.' Azriel smirked at his brother who realised the unintentional pun in his statement and smirked back.

'Just be careful what you say around people.' Alex turned to leave the room.

'Like you really needed to tell me that,' Azriel chuckled, getting underneath the covers of his bed. 'Goodnight bro.'

'G'night Az,' Alex replied, opening the door and retreating to his own room. The brothers were quickly asleep in their separate beds, where they slept soundly all the way through til morning.

The rest of their family was already awake the next morning when they arrived in the dining room for breakfast; Antoine was sitting with his morning coffee and a copy of the daily New York Wizard Times. Anneliese was in the kitchen cooking pancakes, and Anyanka was sitting with a bowl of cereal and some toast.

Azriel went to ask his mother for some toast before joining his father and sister at the table. Alex sat on Anyanka's other side and stole a bite of her toast.

'Hey! Get your own,' their sister complained after swallowing a mouthful of cereal, 'that's mine.' Antoine just chuckled and shook his head, amused that old habits still hadn't died, even after his kids had spent time apart.

Anneliese came into the room carrying a large tray laden with a large stack of pancakes, a set of plates and cutlery, and a smaller plate holding plenty of toast to go around. She put the tray down in the centre of the table and shared out the plates. Everyone took a few pancakes, including Anyanka who still hadn't finished her cereal. The brothers grabbed some toast each, as did their parents.

'So, tell us,' Anneliese began, 'what have you been getting up to at Hogwarts? Everything you expected it to be?'

'You never told us it was a castle,' Alex replied. Anyanka looked up from her food in surprise.

'Are you positive I can't go there next year instead?' she pleaded. Anneliese shook her head and Anyanka sank into her seat, putting on a fake pout. Azriel chuckled, earning himself a glare from his younger sister.

'That was the surprise,' Anneliese grinned. 'Do you like it there?'

'It has its perks,' Azriel replied. 'But it has its drawbacks too.'

'Such as?'

'Well, no one seems to like it when Alex and I spend time together. Never mind that we're brothers. Just because I'm a Gryffindor and he's a Slytherin –'

'You're a Gryffindor?' Anneliese was surprised. 'You didn't mention that in your letters.'

'Sorry, Mom. I didn't think it was important.' Azriel glanced at his brother.

'No, there's nothing wrong with that Azriel. I'm just surprised. I was fairly sure you'd both end up together in my old house, which was Slytherin.' Anneliese took a bite of her pancakes and studied her sons carefully.

'Well, I kinda told the sorting hat it might have been better to separate us...'

'And it listened?' Anneliese laughed now. Azriel grinned at her and nodded.

'It wanted to just put me with Alex to save itself the trouble; apparently we were too hard to sort. Oh, and I said Hufflepuff was a wimpy name.'

'You're my son alright,' Anneliese laughed again. 'Honestly, what sort of a name is that?'

'I know!' Alex enthused.

The Drake brothers proceeded to fill their family in on the things they'd been learning in class; different potions they'd been brewing, spells and charms they've been learning, objects they've transfigured. They told all about their flying lessons, and what happened in their very first one with Draco and Potter.

'Draco had stolen someone's Remembrall, and he wouldn't give it back so Potter got on his broomstick and followed him to get it back. It was really stupid of both of them. Draco didn't get caught, but Potter did. And instead of getting into trouble, he landed himself a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch team.' Azriel was not amused at the reminder of what happened.

'Isn't he only a first year, like you?' Antoine asked. Alex nodded.

'Potter seems to be some major celebrity over there. The star treatment he gets sometimes borders on nauseating.' Azriel scowled.

'What is he famous for?' Anneliese asked. 'I think I knew his parents; James and Lily?'

'We don't know his parents' names but apparently he defeated some dark wizard when he was a baby. Honestly, I can't imagine how he would have done that.' Alex responded.

'How are Lily and James? I haven't seen them since I left Hogwarts.' Anneliese asked.

'Well, if they _are_ Potter's parents, they're dead. Killed by the same dark wizard Potter supposedly defeated.' Azriel said, glancing at his brother.

'Oh.' Anneliese looked down for a second. 'Tell me a little more about your house mates.'

'Well in Gryffindor there's Potter of course, then there's Ron Weasley –' Azriel began.

'Weasley, huh?' Anneliese said with disdain.

'You know them?'

'I never really liked Arthur. My family has had this vendetta against them going back tens of generations, and while I never really bought into that, he was just incredibly annoying.'

'Heh,' Azriel scoffed, with a roll of his eyes, 'like father, like son.'

'I can only imagine,' Anneliese said dryly.

'Moving on; there's Neville Longbottom, pureblood. He's a bit hopeless with magic at times, although I try to help him when I can. He just doesn't take well to it. Mostly it's just nerves; if he could get them under control he could actually be a pretty capable wizard.'

'I knew Neville's parents at school, I think. We weren't in the same year level.' Anneliese cut in. 'Who else?'

'There's Seamus, a half-blood. Irish. Mom's a witch. There's Dean. Muggle-born. Likes soccer – well, to him it's football. He seems to be taking pretty well to magic. Then there's Bookworm.'

'Bookworm?' Anneliese enquired.

'Hermione Granger. Muggle-born – but that's not what gets me. She's a complete know-it-all. I wouldn't be surprised if she stuffed all her textbooks in a blender and ingested the contents.' Azriel spat. 'Condescending as all hell; practically no one can stand her. Naturally, she's friends with Weasley and Potter.'

'I take it you don't like her?' Anneliese asked, with an amused grin.

'Was I that obvious?' Azriel responded, dryly.

'Yes,' Anyanka cut in, poking her tongue out at her older brother.

'You're right. She gets on my nerves that much. There's nothing wrong with being smart but it's like she goes out of her way to make everyone around her look dumb. At least I managed to pull one over her in Charms once.'

'How'd you manage that?' Anyanka asked.

'I have no idea,' Azriel replied innocently, pretending not to notice the pancakes he was now spinning above his finger with his telekinesis.

'You told them about the Gift?' Anneliese queried. Azriel nodded.

'It wasn't like I'd planned on it. But we were looking at the Wingardium Leviosa spell, which of course is practically useless to us. Anyway, we'd been given feathers to practice on, and Bookworm called me out on levitating my wand – well, wandlessly. So I gave a little crash course on the Gift. Apparently we'll be having an in-depth look at it in our 7th year. Anyway, she wasn't exactly impressed that there was something she knew absolutely nothing about.

'Granted, if it weren't for the fact that we even _have_ the Gift, we probably wouldn't have known about it ourselves until 7th year, but my point was, she doesn't know everything and it's annoying that she acts like she does.'

'Okay, enough about your house mates, otherwise I have a feeling we'll be here all morning listening to you complaining about how much you don't like them,' Anneliese chuckled. 'Alex? A rundown please?'

'Okay, these are all pureblood families, so I'll just run a bunch of names past you. Hopefully you're at least recognise most of them.' Alex said. His mother nodded for him to proceed.

'Pansy Parkinson. Blaise Zabini. Theodore Nott. Vincent Crabbe. Gregory Goyle. Draco Malfoy - I mentioned him, he was the one on the broomstick –'

'Wait, did you say Malfoy?' Anneliese cut in sharply.


	8. Chapter 7: Cloak & Dagger

**A/N:** I'm not entirely happy with the first half of this chapter, but it was necessary to set up elements of the Drakes' life outside of Hogwarts in order to introduce a character which will become important later in the series. It gets better in the second half of this chapter.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

* * *

**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 7: Cloak & Dagger

'Malfoy? What about him? I mentioned his surname before, didn't I?' Alex asked, blankly. Azriel raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with his sister who mirrored the look.

'No, you didn't. Now may I ask - is his father Lucius?'

'Yeah,' Alex replied slowly, wondering where this was going.

'I had no idea he had a son now...' Anneliese muttered.

'Mom? What is it?' Anyanka asked. 'What about this Malfoy character?'

'Malfoy's my maiden name.' Anneliese said quietly. 'Lucius is my older brother, and if Draco Malfoy is his son – well, obviously that makes him your cousin.'

Azriel had a forkful of pancakes halfway to his open mouth, and he stopped his movement abruptly upon hearing this admission. He locked wide eyes with his brother who was equally as surprised at the revelation.

'We're related to _that?_' Alex choked out. Anneliese nodded at him. 'Holy – I mean – I don't even like the guy!'

'Well, I can only imagine what his upbringing was like,' Anneliese said with distaste. 'If it's anything like my parents tried to do with me. I was never good with their pureblood indoctrination methods.'

'I can see that,' Alex said dryly. 'We're nothing alike. How could we possibly be related? I mean, you explained it to us, and it makes sense logically, but you just have to look at us together and it just doesn't add up.'

'Just one thing,' Anneliese said, addressing both her sons. 'I would imagine Lucius has failed to tell Draco about me, and he might not even know himself about you, so Draco should be unaware of your relation. I just ask of you that you never tell him of this.'

'Why? I mean, if we're related, surely he needs to know?'

'No he doesn't.' Anneliese said forcefully. 'I have my reasons for wanting this information withheld from him, and don't try to make me tell you because you know I won't.'

'Yes Mom,' Alex replied flatly.

'Azriel?'

'I promise,' Azriel replied quietly, still trying to wrap his mind around this new information.

Anneliese steered the breakfast conversation back to lighter topics but after what they'd learned, neither of the twins were very talkative. Breakfast didn't last much longer, and Antoine left for work that morning.

After finishing their breakfast, the twins and their sister got dressed and went out to meet their friends, whom the twins had promised to get together with after they got back from school for the holidays.

The twins still didn't talk much until they arrived at the local park not far off from their house, where their friends were waiting, and they walked off together. They pushed the information of their new cousin to the backs of their minds as they determined to enjoy the day with old friends.

Spending the day with their friends was just the thing the Drake twins needed to distract themselves from the fact that Draco Malfoy was their cousin, as it turned out.

The twins spent just as much time filling their friends in on what they'd gotten up to at Hogwarts as they spent listening to the escapades their friends had undergone at the New York Academy.

Quentin Walker and his younger sister Archimedes had been friends with the Drakes since they were all babies. A half-blood witch and wizard pair, they had been completely comfortable experiencing magic together. Quentin was the elder of the two, being only a couple months older than the Drake brothers. Archimedes shared her age with Anyanka, and was impatient to begin school at the Academy herself.

The Walkers had emerald eyes, not dissimilar to that of Potter's, Azriel discovered, but there was a warmth and depth far more readily present in the Walkers' eyes than the blond had ever seen in Potter's orbs. Their hair was a rich brown colour, and their facial features were more rounded as opposed to the Drake twins' angular shape. Quentin was similar in height to the Drake twins as Archimedes was to Anyanka, who was about a head shorter than her brothers.

Archimedes was a bright and clever girl, just like Bookworm, but again she was totally different to her British counterpart, as there was nothing remotely overbearing and condescending in her personality. Azriel was glad there was no counterpart here for Weasley; that would be the stuff of nightmares.

Their other friend was David Raynor; a muggle-born wizard barely old enough to be granted admission to the New York Academy. David had been friends with the others since they'd first attended school together, and it was pure luck when he'd discovered his magical ability; it was after this occurrence that he found a greater acceptance among his friends who could then share with him the secret of their own magic.

David had dirty blond hair and hazel eyes. His hair was constantly messy and he had a mischievous glint in his eye when he wasn't being watched closely. He was shorter in stature, only slightly shorter than Archimedes and Anyanka; and he was mildly skinny next to his more full-bodied friends.

Quentin and David had been inseparable at the Academy, and Quentin had been helping David adapt to and learn about the magical world, while also striving to keep him out of trouble. The Academy was housed in a cloaked college-style campus complete with dormitories, where the students slept. The common rooms of the four Academy houses were located in separate halls in each of the four House dormitories.

As they had told the Drake twins, the four Houses were named after famous US Presidents; Quentin and David had themselves been sorted into Lincoln House, with the house colours of gold and blue. Archimedes was hoping that she would be sorted into Kennedy House, because they had a higher turn-out of Ministry officials due to their reputation for housing the intelligently-inclined of the Academy student body.

Their friends were surprised and envious to learn that Hogwarts was situated in a castle in a remote location somewhere in Scotland. They marvelled at the similarities between Hogwarts and the Academy in terms of the structure of the four Houses, and were curious about the differences.

Of course, they wanted to know about the other witches and wizards they'd come across at Hogwarts, so the Drake brothers went through their House mates again. When getting to Draco Malfoy, they purposely neglected to mention their familial connection but it spared them an awkward moment as their friends chose to poke fun at the British wizard based on the negative things they'd heard about him.

After a few hours swapping stories of their school exploits they decided it was time for lunch so the group stopped at a Muggle restaurant near the park where they met. They sat down to a large lunch, and as a group they split the bill between themselves, the Drake brothers having Muggle money on hand in their spare wallets which they'd left at home when they went to Hogwarts.

The group then went to see a movie, quietly laughing to avoid distracting the other moviegoers as they dissected the plot and the characters. After that, they all went out for ice-cream. They stopped off at their favourite ice-cream parlour. Anyanka and Archimedes went to order their ice-creams leaving the boys to fetch a table.

Azriel grabbed a large table and sat down, with Quentin joining him. They waited a minute for the girls, looking over at them at the counter. Alex and David joined the other two boys after a moment, but Anyanka and Archimedes were still busy waiting because there was a long queue.

Someone else joined them at their table; Jason Anderson, a boy they used to go to school with. He was a Muggle boy from a reasonably well-off family. He had jet black hair and crystal blue eyes, with striking, chiselled features to match the Drakes' own. He was as tall as the Drake brothers also.

'So, the prodigal sons return,' Jason sneered. 'Having fun in some exclusive little school on the other side of the world?'

'It's very enjoyable, thanks,' Azriel replied, frostily, 'much more so than our present company.'

'Well I sure hope so,' Jason snapped. 'Did you forget to tell me you were going off to private school and leaving me behind?'

'Look, I'm sorry but you wouldn't understand.' Azriel sighed.

'Understand? Well _make_ me understand! I thought we were friends! Friends are supposed talk to each other!' Jason hissed.

'I know, but it's too complicated –'

'Because you're making it complicated! All you have to tell me is why! All of you! You all just disappeared to who knows where, going away to other schools and leaving me alone!'

'We didn't leave you alone!' Quentin said.

'Yes you did,' Jason snapped vehemently. 'Why couldn't I have gone with you? It couldn't have been money, because I know your family doesn't have _that_ much, Walker!'

'There were certain – _requirements_ – to be accepted to this type of school that I'm afraid you don't meet, especially considering your current behaviour,' Alex drawled, scowling at the black-haired boy, and cutting off Quentin's attempted protest with a quick glare.

'And what would those requirements be?' Jason sneered back.

'We're not supposed to talk about it,' David said. 'School rules.'

'Y'know what? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard so _screw_ the rules.' Jason hissed. David just shook his head. Jason chuckled darkly. 'Whatever.' With that, he stalked off into the crowd.

Alex sat down next to his brother, glaring after Jason's retreating back. Azriel just shook his head, looking over at Quentin and David.

'What is his problem?' Alex grumbled. 'I know we used to be friends but he didn't have to turn on us like that! He knew we were going off to different schools!'

'Forget it,' Quentin sighed. 'He's just being stubborn and stupid. And you know we can't make him understand, we risk exposure.'

'Exposure from what?' Anyanka and Archimedes finally showed up, each carrying a tray with ice-cream cones.

'Jason,' David replied darkly. Anyanka rolled her eyes and joined her brothers.

'That again? He just needs to get over himself.' Anyanka said, placing ice-creams down on the tabletop.

'Easier said than done. He's acting like this was some massive betrayal and we were all in on it.' Azriel replied.

'Technically, we _were_ all in on it,' The rest of the group reflected quietly on this, sharing an unspoken agreement of this statement.

They turned their focus away from their former friend as they ate their ice-cream. Once they were finished, they said their goodbyes and parted ways with plans to continue meeting up over the holiday break.

Days later, Christmas had finally arrived, and Anyanka was quick to rouse her brothers in order to meet their parents downstairs for presents. She had to avoid several objects telekinetically thrown by her eldest brother as he groggily awoke from his interrupted slumber.

'Do you really have to do this every year?' Alex chuckled, watching his brother trying to come awake at the breakfast table.

'Yes!' Anyanka exclaimed innocently, earning herself a glare from Azriel. Anneliese and Antoine remained silent, quietly amused by their children's regular Christmas morning routine.

Breakfast was over with quickly, and the Drake family moved into the living room where presents were piled under the tree. Anyanka was quick to reach the pile sorting through the various packages for her own, tossing her brothers all of theirs.

The brothers were grabbing every present Anyanka threw at them, and building a small pile of their own. Once their sister was finally finished sorting through all the presents, they got started opening them. Anneliese and Antoine sat back to watch their children open their presents first.

The siblings enjoyed their new wardrobe pieces, and books, and in the twins' cases, school supplies. They were just about to go and put away their presents when Antoine silently got up and left the room.

'Where's dad going?' Alex asked. Anneliese smiled and placed a finger to her lips, not saying a word. Alex shared looks with his brother and sister, all three of them wondering what was happening.

Antoine came back two minutes later with two wrapped packages; Azriel could tell they contained some sort of garment. Antoine gave one each to the twins.

'What are those?' Anyanka asked.

'You'll just have to wait for your brothers to open them,' Antoine said cryptically. The twins had already begun to do just that, being equally as curious what they were going to find within.

In the two packages were a matching set of cloaks. They were blood-red in colour and they were large. The twins glanced at each other with confused expressions.

'Cloaks?' Azriel asked flatly, looking back over at his father. 'We already have perfectly good cloaks. What do we need these for?'

'Put them on,' Antoine replied with a secret smile. Feeling bemused, Azriel draped his around his shoulders, looking down at it. He was surprised to see his body disappear underneath it. His head snapped up to look at his father in amazement at what he had received.

'Invisibility cloaks!' Anyanka exclaimed, eyeing the fabric with envy. 'Where'd you get them?'

'These used to belong to my father and my uncle,' Antoine replied proudly. 'Made from Demiguise fur.'

'Demiguise fur?' Alex asked. He looked down at his own cloak to study it further. 'How come these things still work if they're made of Demiguise fur? One of the first things you taught us about that stuff is that it fades over time, and these must be ages old!'

'That has to do with how these particular cloaks were made,' Antoine replied, smile fading slightly. 'Upon their creation, these cloaks were soaked in the blood of a Gifted.'

'Really?' Azriel asked sharply, taking off his cloak and having his own good look at it. That explained the colour, he realised. 'These were soaked in the blood of a Gifted with invisibility?'

'Yes. And this was done ages before even my father and uncle had them. Even at the time, blood magic of this sort was highly illegal, one thing about our family history that I'm not exactly proud of. On a somewhat more positive note, these were charmed with a powerful anti-wear spell to prevent them from taking damage. That's why they're also in such good condition for their age.'

'Thank you Dad, and I don't want to sound ungrateful but, why are you giving these to us? Why now?' Azriel asked, looking up from his new invisibility cloak at his father.

'I wanted to pass them on to you, as they were passed onto me and my brother. I would've given them to you for your birthday, but my brother didn't get back to me in time with the other cloak. Besides, the time seemed right to me.' Antoine smiled at his sons.

Their parents finally opened their own presents, and then the Drake siblings took their presents back to their rooms to put them away. Anyanka was jealous and in awe of the invisibility cloaks her brothers had received, and wanted to feel them and try them on for herself. Alex allowed her to do that while Azriel put his away with the rest of his presents.

Hades was curious about this new piece of clothing his owner had with him, and the cat tried to scratch at the garment, only to be stopped by Azriel when the boy put it in his wardrobe. Hades hissed quietly in annoyance, but he was ignored by his owner.

The rest of the holidays passed by quickly; their friends were of course, as surprised and envious as Anyanka was to learn about the twins' invisibility cloaks, and they were just as reluctant as Anyanka as well to say goodbye to the twins since they had to go back to Hogwarts the next day.

The next morning, the Drake brothers made sure their bags were all packed and their pets caged. Persephone was hooting in annoyance because she was being kept awake by Hades, who was pacing around his cage and hissing in frustration at once again being confined. The twins had hidden their new cloaks in the bottom of their suitcases with their daggers.

Antoine took them to the Ministry of Magic himself, and saw them off through the Floo network to the London branch, where they were met with another Auror who took them via Ministry car back to King's Cross Station, where they made their way on their own to the platform to board the Hogwarts Express back to the castle.

It was almost as busy as it had been back in September when they'd first boarded the train; the brothers had to be careful they avoided separation through the large crowd, pushing their way through to the luggage handlers who were loading bags onto the train.

Azriel boarded the train once his bags were safely stowed away, and Alex was close behind. There were students walking up and down the carriage corridors, catching up with friends and finding compartments just as the brothers were.

They were approaching the back of the carriage when someone knocked into Azriel.

'Hey, watch where you're going!' The person snarled. Azriel turned around to find Draco Malfoy. Instantly reminded of their familial connection, Azriel stared at Draco's face looking for some sort of resemblance.

He could see little of his mother in the boy's face, and still couldn't quite believe that Draco was supposed to be their cousin. He supposed Draco got the majority of his looks from his father Lucius, whom neither Azriel nor Alex had ever seen.

'What're you staring at?' Draco asked irritably, with thinly veiled discomfort.

'Nothing,' Azriel replied quietly. He turned and continued his way down the corridor. Behind him, Alex said nothing. They could feel their cousin's eyes on their retreating backs, and Azriel could imagine the calculating look he was giving them.

They found an empty compartment at the back of the train and closed the door behind them. Azriel sat across from his brother, reclining against the outer wall of the train with his legs stretched out across the seat.

'I really don't like this cloak and dagger thing,' Azriel said bluntly. 'Y'know, all these secrets?'

'That thing with Jason, right? And Draco being our cousin?' Alex looked away from the window and turned to face his brother. His face was passive, and if it weren't for their twin connection, Azriel wouldn't know that he was empathising with his brother.

'Yeah. I kinda feel bad for Jason; I mean, he used to be our friend and then we just left.'

'Az, don't beat yourself up over this; you know he doesn't belong in our world. I mean sure, David didn't even know he was a wizard until he was invited to the Academy, but Jason knew last year that the rest of us were all going off to different schools.' Alex said matter-of-factly.

'He didn't have to take it so badly,' Azriel snapped.

'Azriel –'

'He turned on us the minute we told him we were going away at the end of the school year. He even turned on David after he found out even he wouldn't be around.' Azriel said darkly.

'You're right. It was stupid of him, and it was unfair –'

'Damn right it was unfair! He didn't want to hear that we didn't exactly have a choice in the matter. Don't you think if we could tell him why we would? But you know the rules. Total secrecy. You know how much I hated keeping this massive secret from him? He was my best friend!' Azriel ranted.

'I know, Azriel! He was mine too!' Alex cut in sharply. 'But like you said, you know the rules. He wasn't meant to know. It sucks that he reacted how he did knowing we had this big secret over him but you can't change what happened!'

'And what about Draco? Where does he fit into this massive web of lies and secrets?'

'I don't know,' Alex sighed. 'All I know is what Mom told us. He's our cousin. His father is our uncle. She doesn't want him to know. Why, you know she didn't say. We just have to trust her.'

'I can understand keeping our magic a secret from Jason. I hate it, but I can. This thing with Draco? He's family. Doesn't he have a right to know?' Azriel glared out the window, avoiding his brother's eye.

'Maybe he does,' Alex agreed. 'But we're not gonna be the ones to tell him. It's mom's call if and when this gets out to Draco and his family.'

Just then, they could hear voices approaching. Bookworm turned up a moment later with Neville, and they were discussing something school-related. Azriel didn't care what. Their compartment door opened and the newcomers stepped inside.

'Oh, I'm sorry!' Bookworm exclaimed in surprise, noticing that the compartment was not empty. 'I didn't know there was anyone in here. I'll go and find another compartment. Come on, Neville.'

'It's fine, you can sit here,' Azriel said tersely, as they were leaving. He lowered his legs off the seat and sat down properly, freeing up space for the others to sit.

'Anything the matter?' Bookworm asked nosily.

'It's nothing,' Alex replied. 'Just a disagreement. Brothers.' Azriel shot a glare at his brother as Alex rolled his eyes nonchalantly. Bookworm seemed to miss the exchange, as she had her book bag with her, and she was rifling through it for a book. Neville sat down next to Alex, looking at him nervously; eyeing the Slytherin crest on his robe.

Azriel looked out the window in silence, ignoring Bookworm and her book. She in turn ignored them, and the compartment fell into silence, Bookworm engrossing herself in her book, the Drake twins not wishing to speak to her and Neville too nervous to speak at all.

Alex didn't notice the book that Bookworm was reading right away; until she changed position and held the book closer to her face. That was when he glanced at the title – _Great Wizards of the 13th Century_. He mentally flashed back to a few weeks ago in the library, and remembered that this book was where he'd found the passage on Nicholas Flamel and the Philosopher's Stone.

Bookworm was reading the book; which meant she would find out about Nicholas Flamel, if she hadn't already. Warning bells sounded in Alex's head, and he reached out for Azriel with his telepathy.

_Az, we got trouble,_ Alex thought quickly. _Don't move; you don't want to draw attention._

Azriel had been about to sit up suddenly in his seat, but he caught himself at Alex's warning. Instead he shifted casually in order to look at his brother.

_What's up?_ He thought, face remaining passive.

_Bookworm has the book with the passage connecting Nicholas Flamel to the Philosopher's Stone._ Alex continued to sit passively, face not betraying the frantic edge to his thoughts.

Azriel subtly glanced over at the cover, confirming with his own eyes that Bookworm did indeed have the book, and that book would be a lot more useful to herself, Red and Potter than it had been to the Drake twins, because the other Gryffindors would now know who Flamel was and they would learn about the stone, things that the Drakes were already aware of. For the Drake twins' plan to rescue the Stone from Snape, this was not good at all.

_Here's hoping she doesn't make the connection once she reads the passage_, Alex thought dryly.

_I wouldn't count on it. Bookworm is in her element when it comes to the written word. She's like a hawk; she sees everything._ Azriel fought the urge to scoff, knowing it would draw attention.

_Well in that case, we're screwed._ Alex thought bluntly. Azriel couldn't contain the beginnings of a wry smile, but luckily neither Bookworm or Neville took any notice; Bookworm was still entrenched in her book, and Neville had taken to staring at his feet.

The witch with the sweet trolley came by around midday, so the twins picked up some pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes as well as a few chocolate frogs to hold them over until they got back to the castle. Neville didn't have much money on him, so he only bought a couple of pumpkin pasties. The Drake twins offered him one each from theirs and he cautiously accepted them.

As it turned out, Bookworm had gotten hungry herself; she put down her book while she rummaged through her bag for some wizard money. From where he was sitting, the book was upside down; still, he was able to quickly decipher the page numbers that the book was open to.

_Has she reached the bit about Flamel yet?_ Alex asked silently. While Bookworm and Neville were distracted, Azriel chanced a brief shake of his head.

_She has a good few hundred pages to go yet._ Azriel replied. _I would hope she'd get tired of the book by then. I wouldn't hold my breath on it though._ Again, he fought the urge to scoff, especially as the sweet lady was still here with her cart.

After the sweet lady went back up the train with her trolley, the four tucked into their purchased food. Azriel noted that Bookworm had closed her book and stuck it back inside her bag to eat. That would at least buy them a little time before she found out what they didn't want her to know.

After they finished eating, Bookworm tried to drum up conversation with the others, asking them about their holidays. She particularly wanted to know what the Drakes had gotten up to in New York but she was disappointed when they weren't so forthcoming with details. She made some small talk with Neville, but she had gotten bored with that quickly and, realising the Drakes weren't any more likely to give her stimulating conversation, she went back to her book.

The rest of the train ride was uneventful; Bookworm read in silence. Neville had somehow fallen asleep, and Alex had made sure he was leaning away from him so the sleeping boy didn't drool on his robes. Azriel was thinking about the current situation with the Stone and when Bookworm would figure out who Flamel was, as well as what the other pests Potter and Red had been up to in their absence. Red liked Wizard's Chess he knew, but beyond that he didn't know or care what Red _or_ Potter liked doing.

It was after sunset when they finally arrived back at the castle. Bookworm had almost reached the end of her book, and the twins knew she had read the passage on Flamel. Whether she had realised it or not, they couldn't tell because they didn't notice anything about her behaviour that suggested she'd had any sort of sudden thought or revelation. Either she honestly hadn't made a connection or she was a very convincing actress.

They hoped it was a good thing if she'd distracted herself enough from the task of finding Flamel that the penny hadn't dropped yet. Either way, Azriel assured his brother telepathically that he would keep an eye on her and report if he noticed any change.

Bookworm put the book away once they'd come to a stop. Again, Hagrid was calling for the first years to lead them to the boats. Azriel wondered if they would travel back and forth like this for the rest of the year whenever they left the castle grounds, as he really didn't like travelling on that lake, and he especially didn't trust passing over a giant squid which as far as he knew could just as easily capsize all the boats before they'd reached the other side if it wanted to.

Bookworm and Neville had tagged along with them again, severely agitating Azriel who just wanted to get away. Once they got to the castle however, he was glad to have the freedom to separate from them. He went to the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall where the returning students were all congregating for dinner with those who had stayed during the holidays. Bookworm was off with Red and Potter further down the table, and Neville had stayed with them.

Neither he nor Alex stayed long after finishing their dinner, retreating to their respective rooms to get some sleep, as they were once again adjusting to being in a different time zone.

Azriel was thankful he was practically alone in the common room, as he undid the black ribbon that held his hair in its ponytail. He reflected on what it would mean once Bookworm told Red and Potter what she had learned, because Azriel was sure she would have figured out what she needed to from that book.

Undoubtedly, that would mean the others would have caught up to Azriel and Alex in the race for the stone. Azriel didn't like this feeling at all, preferring to stay one step ahead of the others. He knew that all of them were aware about the Cerberus, but he wasn't sure if Bookworm and the others had considered that there may be more levels of protection in place guarding the Stone.

Through all this was the factor of Severus Snape; they all knew also that Snape was after the Stone, with pretty solid evidence in place for a motive – given the properties of the Stone, anyone would want it if it meant being granted the opportunity for eternal life.

Azriel began putting away his things once he got into his dorm room, silently thanking the house elves for only taking his belongings up to the room rather than putting everything away themselves. With his daggers and wand safely put away and his wardrobe unpacked, Azriel got into bed for a nice long sleep, knowing that there was a lot to deal with during the rest of the school year.


	9. Chapter 8: Square One

**A/N:** I can't let my characters get too far ahead of the Golden Trio now, can I? ;) This chapter is the pre-cursor to my favourite part of the story, and it's showing how my characters' inquisitive nature is gonna lead them into trouble further down the track.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

* * *

**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 8: Square One

The weeks had rolled on since classes had resumed at Hogwarts and so far, Bookworm still wasn't letting on that she had made the connection between Flamel and the Stone. Azriel was very unsure this was a good thing, but he had a sneaking suspicion Bookworm still had the book in her possession, which was not such a good thing, because he had no way of knowing if she'd re-read it and finally figured it out if she hadn't already.

What he did know was that Bookworm and Red were still skimming through books whenever they had the chance, and Potter assisted them when he could, having a taxing Quidditch training schedule on top of classes and homework.

It was of interest to him to learn that Snape was supposedly refereeing the next Quidditch match, a fact he'd overheard Potter complaining to his friends about after he returned from training one evening. Red and Bookworm had been playing chess at the time; Bookworm was losing miserably. Good for her, Azriel had thought, discreetly watching their match as he worked on some homework, she deserves some humility.

His full attention was captured when Potter sat down to Red with a grim expression on his face.

'Don't talk to me for a moment,' said Red, unobservant of his friend's distress. 'I need to concen –' Then he finally paid proper attention and his face registered mild surprise.

'What's the matter with you? You look terrible.' Azriel looked down at his work just as Potter glanced around to make sure he wasn't overheard. Azriel listened intently and just faintly heard him tell of Snape's sudden and sinister desire to be a Quidditch referee. Odd character fit, Azriel thought dryly, he doesn't strike me as one for fair play.

Immediately, the others began to rattle off suggestions to Potter of how to handle the situation. Azriel mentally berated each one.

_Don't play. _Doubtful he'll have a choice.

_Say you're ill_. Good luck with that one.

_Pretend to break your leg_. Honestly, who'd believe that?

_Really break your leg_. It's official; Red is definitely as dumb as he looks.

'I can't,' said Potter. 'There isn't a reserve Seeker. If I back out, Gryffindor can't play at all.' Wouldn't that be a shame, Azriel thought, but he wanted Gryffindor to win more than he wanted them to lose.

At that moment, the majority of the students in the common room were distracted by Neville toppling into the room. How he had managed to climb through the portrait hole was anyone's guess, because his legs had been stuck together with what Azriel recognised at once as the Leg-Locker curse. He must have had to bunny hop all the way up to Gryffindor tower from wherever he had been.

Bookworm and Azriel were the only two who weren't laughing at the spectacle, and Azriel was about to help the boy but Bookworm had been closer and quicker to perform the counter-curse. Neville's limbs sprang apart and he got to his feet trembling.

'What happened?' Azriel called over from his table, while Bookworm led him over to sit down with Potter and Red.

'Malfoy,' said Neville shakily. 'I met him outside the library. He said he'd been looking for someone to practise that on.' Azriel scowled at the thought of his cousin being so horrible, but he was still having trouble reconciling the family connection between them considering how vastly different Draco's personality was from Azriel and Alex.

'Go to Professor McGonagall!' Bookworm urged Neville; typical of her. 'Report him!'

Neville shook his head. 'I don't want more trouble,' he mumbled.

'You've got to stand up to him, Neville!' said Red, 'He's used to walking all over people, but that's no reason to lie down in front of him and make it easier.' Azriel's scowl deepened at the mental image.

Potter pulled a Chocolate Frog out of his pocket and gave it to Neville as some sort of comfort offering, since Neville looked about ready to cry.

'You're worth twelve of Malfoy,' Potter said. 'The Sorting Hat chose you for Gryffindor, didn't it? And where's Malfoy? In stinking Slytherin.'

'My brother's in Slytherin, remember?' Azriel piped up. The others looked at him; Red and Potter glared at him. 'And I could just as easily have been. We're not as bad as you seem to think.'

'We weren't talking to you, Drake,' Ron snapped. 'Sod off.' Azriel shrugged and returned to his work while Neville accepted the Chocolate Frog from Potter. He offered a weak smile to Potter as he unwrapped it.

'Thanks, Harry ... I think I'll go to bed ... D'you want the card, you collect them, don't you?'

As Neville walked away, Potter looked at the Famous Wizard card.

'Dumbledore again,' he said, 'He was the first one I ever –' He gasped, catching Azriel's attention again. Azriel glanced over.

'_I've found him!_' Potter whispered. Azriel barely heard it, but his head snapped up sharply. Potter seemed to have full attention of his friends, so none of them noticed his sudden movement.

'I've found Flamel! I _told_ you I'd read the name somewhere before, I read it on the train coming here – listen to this: "Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood _and his work on alchemy with his partner Nicholas Flamel_"!'

Bookworm jumped to her feet. She hadn't looked so excited since they'd got back the marks for their very first piece of homework. Azriel could feet a knot of dread tightening in his stomach.

'Stay there!' she said, and she sprinted up the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Potter and Red barely had time to exchange mystified looks before she was dashing back, an enormous old book in her arms. It was _the_ book. Azriel's sense of dread was realised in that moment.

'I never thought to look in here!' she whispered excitedly. 'I got this out of the library weeks ago for a bit of light reading.'

'_Light?_' said Red, but Bookworm told him to be quiet. Azriel silently agreed with him; only she would have the audacity to call that 'light'. Bookworm began flicking frantically through the pages of the book, muttering to herself. At last she found what she was looking for.

'I knew it! _I knew it!_' Knew what, Azriel thought bitterly, but he had an idea what it was she knew.

'Are we allowed to speak yet?' said Red grumpily. No, Azriel thought. Bookworm ignored him.

'Nicholas Flamel,' she whispered dramatically, 'is the _only known maker of the Philosopher's Stone_!' And there it was; in a single sentence, Bookworm had dashed any sort of lead the Drake brothers had on her, Red and Potter. Back to square one, Azriel thought darkly.

Red and Potter clearly didn't understand the significance of this though, because their reaction was decidedly different from what Bookworm had evidently expected.

'The what?' They'd replied.

'Oh, _honestly_, don't you two read?' Clearly, they can't read it when you haven't given them the damn book, Azriel snapped mentally.

'Look – read that, there.' Finally, Bookworm relinquished possession of the book to the others, pointing out the relevant passage for them to read.

'See?' said Bookworm, when Red and Potter had finished. 'The dog – Cerberus – whatever Azriel called it, it must be guarding Flamel's Philosopher's Stone! I bet he asked Dumbledore to keep it safe for him, because they're friends and he knew someone was after it, that's why he wanted the Stone moved out of Gringotts!'

'A stone that makes gold and stops you ever dying!' said Potter, 'No wonder Snape's after it! _Anyone _would want it.' Namely you, Azriel thought, and I still don't intend to let you.

'And no wonder we couldn't find Flamel in that _Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry_,' said Red. 'He's not exactly recent if he's six hundred and sixty-five, is he?'

That night, Azriel tested out his new invisibility cloak; sneaking out of the Gryffindor common room to meet up with Alex in the antechamber off the Entrance Hall. There, he relayed the information of the Trio's huge leap forward in the race for the Stone.

Alex was equally as displeased at this news; even more so that he wasn't in a position to actively monitor what else the others were up to. Azriel promised he would keep a closer eye on them from here on out, and the brothers parted ways, retreating to their separate beds.

As the Quidditch match approached, Azriel began to keep an even closer watch of Potter and his friends as well as Snape, who seemed to be becoming a more permanent fixture in the corridors, randomly appearing at all times.

Potions class had become increasingly nightmarish, Azriel observed, for Potter. Presumably, Snape was trying to intimidate Potter in order to weaken his resolve to perform in the next match. It seemed to be working.

Azriel also wondered if Snape had realised what was going on with the stone – whether he was aware that someone else was also trying to get to it and keep it out of his hands. Sometimes it was almost as if he knew what was going on, but Azriel could never be too sure what to make of the Potions Master's moods and behaviours.

When the Quidditch match finally arrived, Alex joined his brother in the Gryffindor stands, much to the annoyance of Red; however, they seemed so oddly grim that there was little fuss about the Slytherin's presence.

They were sitting next to Neville, who didn't understand why Red and Bookworm seemed so worried, or why they had brought their wands with them to the match; the Drake brothers understood of course, and their wands were discreetly tucked away inside their robes with their Sai daggers.

Red and Bookworm had been brushing up on their Leg-Locker curse, having gotten the idea from Draco using it on Neville. They intended to use it on Snape should he show any sign of wanting to hurt Potter. Sound theory but Azriel doubted Snape would try anything now that the extent of his participation in the match was more than just a mere spectator.

'Now, don't forget, it's _Locomotor Mortis,_' Bookworm muttered as Red stuck his wand up his sleeve.

'I _know,_' Red snapped. 'Don't nag.'

It was then that Alex noticed Dumbledore arriving to watch the match; he silently signalled to Azriel, who understood instantly; nothing untoward would happen to Potter while the Headmaster was watching.

Perhaps this was why Snape seemed so angry when he stepped onto the pitch followed by the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff Quidditch teams. Even Red managed to be observant enough for once to notice this.

'I've never seen Snape look so mean,' Red told Bookworm. 'Look – they're off. Ouch!'

Clearly Red's one moment of observation had passed because he had failed to notice Draco approach, allowing the Slytherin to poke him in the back of the head.

'Oh, sorry, Weasley, didn't see you there.' Draco grinned broadly at Crabbe and Goyle. The two idiots began to chuckle, stumbling about. Crabbe didn't realise until too late that he was approaching the Drake twins, so Azriel stuck out his foot. Crabbe tripped and fell hard.

'Oh, sorry, Crabbe, didn't see you there.' Azriel said innocently, before he grinned evilly at Draco, who glared back having noticed their presence.

'Wonder how long Potter's going to stay on his broom this time? Anyone want a bet? What about you, Weasley?' Draco sneered, recovering his bravado.

Red didn't answer; he was too busy watching Snape award Hufflepuff a penalty because George Weasley had hit a Bludger at him. Alex had been watching and he'd concluded that it wasn't hit at _Snape_ but it had been headed in his general direction because a Hufflepuff chaser was nearby making an attempt at the Quaffle. Bookworm was wringing her hands in her lap, squinting fixedly at Potter who was circling above the game like a hawk, searching for the Snitch.

'You know how I think they choose people for the Gryffindor team?' said Draco a few minutes later, previous taunt having been ignored; Snape had just awarded Hufflepuff another penalty for no good reason.

'How, fairness? Equal opportunity? A conscience?' Azriel retorted dryly, followed by the punch-line; 'All of which your team is severely lacking, by the way.'

'It's people they feel sorry for,' Draco replied with a smirk, ignoring Azriel's jab. 'See, there's Potter, who's got no parents, then there's the Weasleys, who have no money – you should be on the team, Longbottom, you've got no brains.'

'Shouldn't _you_ be trying for Gryffindor then? I feel sorry for _you_ because you have no spine,' Azriel said coolly, returning Draco's smirk.

'I'm worth twelve of you, Malfoy,' Neville stammered, before Draco could bite back at Azriel. Crabbe and Goyle burst into laughter, and Draco quickly dissolved into laughter as well, recovering quickly from the anger he was about to display.

'You tell him, Neville,' Red said distractedly, eyes never leaving the game.

'Longbottom, if brains were gold you'd be poorer than Weasley, and that's saying something.' Draco jeered.

'Malfoy, if truth could hurt you'd be a cripple, and _that's_ saying something, sice you're so _honest_,' Azriel said with a roll of his eyes; he was determined to meet his cousin barb for barb.

'I'm warning you, Malfoy – one more word –' Red started.

'Ron!' said Bookworm suddenly, 'Harry -!'

All eyes were immediately diverted to the game. Potter had suddenly gone into a spectacular dive, which drew gasps and cheers from the crowd. Azriel glanced over at Snape; no fixed stares or muttering. This was legit. Bookworm stood up, her crossed fingers in her mouth, as Potter streaked towards the ground like a bullet.

'You're in luck, Weasley, Potter's obviously spotted some money on the ground!' said Draco.

'It's gold alright, but that's not money,' Azriel grinned darkly, but Draco barely had time to register this before Red was on top of him wrestling him to the ground. Neville hesitated, then clambered over the back of his seat to help.

'Come on, Harry!' Bookworm screamed, leaping onto her seat to watch as Potter sped straight at Snape – she didn't even notice Red or Draco rolling around underneath her seat, or the scuffles and yelps coming from the whirl of fists that was Neville, Crabbe and Goyle. The Drake brothers each split their attention to breaking up the two fights but neither was having much luck.

Up in the air, Snape turned on his broomstick just in time to see something scarlet shoot past him, missing him by inches – next second, Potter had pulled out of the dive, his arm raised in triumph, the Snitch clasped in his hand.

The stands erupted; it must have been something spectacular because Azriel didn't get what all the fuss was all about until he noticed that Potter had caught up to the snitch. Would've thought it would evade him this time, Azriel thought to himself as he was caught up in the cheering crowd.

'Ron! Ron! Where are you? The game's over! Harry's won! We've won! Gryffindor are in the lead!' shrieked Bookworm, dancing up and down on her seat and hugging Parvati Patil in the seat in front.

Azriel watched as down below, Potter jumped off his broom, a foot from the ground. As the other Gryffindors descended onto the pitch, he saw Snape land nearby, white-faced and tight-lipped. Dumbledore then approached Potter, placing a hand on his should and saying something to him. Snape spat bitterly on the ground.

Azriel didn't hang around for the festivities as Gryffindor celebrated their Seeker and now champion. He tried to ignore the buzz and excitement from the rest of his house during dinner, and after eating what he could he left quickly and quietly, wanting to go for a walk and be left alone.

He returned to his dorm room in order to fetch his invisibility cloak – if he came across anyone he didn't want to bother explaining why he wasn't at dinner celebrating with the rest of his house. Cloak firmly in place, he headed down the stairs to the entrance hall, planning on going outside. As he was coming down the stairs to the Entrance Hall, he saw a cloaked figure emerging from the dungeons with his face hooded.

From his walk, Azriel could tell it was Snape, and he wondered what the man was up to; clearly he wasn't making another attempt on the Stone because he was headed out the front door of the castle instead of making his way to the forbidden corridor on the 3rd floor.

Snape mustn't have wanted to be seen, Azriel gathered, from the brisk pace that the Potions Master was travelling at, so Azriel hastily followed before he could get too far ahead. Outside, Azriel glanced around looking for the direction Snape went.

He saw the cloaked figure of the professor going toward the Forbidden Forest. Now Azriel was definitely curious what was going on so Azriel jogged lightly after the man in order to catch up yet remain anonymous. While he moved, he retrieved his wand from its holster in his belt – even with his cloak on he wasn't going to risk entering the forest unarmed.

Above his head, Azriel saw something swoop past; he looked up to see Potter trailing Snape as well on his broomstick. Azriel didn't recall seeing Potter at dinner either, and figured he must have stayed behind at the pitch after everyone else had left.

The trees in the forest quickly became dense and thick, so Azriel was sure Potter would have lost sight of where Snape went, but Azriel was running after the man so he knew exactly where to go in order to keep up. Snape finally came to a stop in a shadowy clearing. He wasn't alone in the clearing; someone else was there – someone wearing a purple turban, which could only mean it was Professor Quirrell.

Azriel saw Potter landing in the branch of a beech tree across from his position hidden behind another tree; even cloaked, Azriel wasn't taking a chance by hiding in plain sight.

'I d-don't know why you wanted t-t-to meet me here of all p-places Severus...' Quirrell stuttered, worse than he'd ever stuttered before. Azriel agreed with his statement though; what _were_ they doing here in the Forbidden Forest?

'Oh, I thought we'd keep this private,' said Snape, his voice icy. So much for that, Azriel thought, glancing up at Potter who was straining to hear what was being said while at the same time trying to hang onto both his broom and the tree branch.

'Students aren't supposed to know about the Philosopher's Stone after all.' Snape finished. What, that it exists, or that it's here? Azriel wondered. Probably both, he reasoned. Quirrell, meanwhile, was mumbling something unintelligible. Azriel saw Potter lean forward.

'Have you figured out how to get past that beast of Hagrid's yet?' Snape interrupted. How could he not know that? Azriel wondered. It's so simple, you just –

'B-b-but Severus, I –' Quirrell stuttered, the sound of his voice breaking Azriel from his thoughts.

'You don't want me as your enemy, Quirrell,' said Snape, taking a step toward him. Quirrell took a step back in Azriel's direction.

'I-I don't-t know what you –'

'You know perfectly well what I mean.'

An owl hooted loudly, startling Quirrell who jumped with a barely suppressed squeal. Azriel heard a rustling noise and looked up to see Potter almost fall out of the tree in surprise from the noise. Snape and Quirrell mustn't have thought anything of it, because neither of them paid any attention to anything happening above their heads.

Snape's voice dropped dramatically in volume when he spoke next; Azriel had to really strain to catch the rest of what he said.

' – your little bit of hocus pocus. I'm waiting.'

'B-but I d-d-don't –'

'Very well,' Snape cut in. 'We'll have another little chat soon, when you've had time to think things over and decided where your loyalties lie.'

He threw his cloak over his head and strode out of the clearing. It was almost dark now, but Azriel could see Quirrell, standing quite still as though he'd been petrified. Above, Potter had gotten back onto his broom and flown off. Azriel ran off in pursuit of Snape, who would lead him back out of the forest in one piece.

Potter, of course, had to take his broomstick back to the broom shed, so Azriel headed off to the castle first. On the way, he found Red and Bookworm out looking for Potter, so he followed them back down to the Entrance Hall, where Potter was just coming inside.

'Harry, where have you _been?_' Bookworm squeaked, pulling her friend on the arm to get him to walk with him back up the stairs. Azriel stood off to the side to let them go past.

'We won! You won! We won!' shouted Red, thumping Potter on the back. 'And I gave Malfoy a black eye and Neville tried to take on Crabbe and Goyle single-handed! He's still out cold but Madam Pomfrey says he'll be all right – talk about showing Slytherin! Everyone's waiting for you in the common room, we're having a party, Fred and George stole some cakes and stuff from the kitchens.'

'Never mind that now,' said Potter breathlessly. 'Let's find an empty room, you wait 'til you hear this ...'

They were passing by an empty classroom, so Potter checked for Peeves before they entered. Azriel slipped inside in front of them, so he wasn't shut out when Potter closed the door behind him after they were all inside. Then, he told Red and Bookworm what he had seen and heard.

'So we were right, it _is_ the Philosopher's Stone, and Snape's trying to force Quirrell to help him get it. He asked if he knew how to get past Fluffy – and he said something about Quirrell's "hocus pocus" – I reckon there are other things guarding the stone apart from Fluffy, loads of enchantments, probably, and Quirrell would have done some anti-Dark Arts spell which Snape needs to break through –'

'So you mean the Stone's only safe as long as Quirrell stands up to Snape?' said Bookworm in alarm.

'It'll be gone by next Tuesday,' said Red. Azriel hoped that was some sort of joke to lighten the mood, but no one was laughing. To make matters worse, knowing that the stone's safety rested purely on the shoulders of Quirrell not being intimidated by Snape, Azriel was afraid that Ron would turn out to be entirely correct and no amount of effort from anyone would be able to save the Stone from Snape on such short notice.

Azriel telepathically relayed the information he'd learned during the night to Alex, once he was safely in bed for the night, with the curtains drawn and he had privacy.

_Do you really think Quirrell will be able to hold out on Snape?_ Alex thought, flatly.

'You've seen the guy; he's alright as a teacher but as a person, he's an absolute flake! Snape gets any more aggressive with him, the guy will crumble,' Azriel thought back, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.

_Then we've really got to figure out what these other enchantments are and what we're going to do about them._

'I'm thinking maybe each staff member has contributed something,' Azriel thought. 'I mean, Hagrid supplied Fluffy, and Snape is after something to counter-act whatever Quirrell's put in place.'

_Good thinking. I'd imagine there'd be some sort of plant life guarding it, then._

'Professor Sprout, Herbology,' Azriel nodded at the ceiling. 'Snape himself probably supplied something to try and look innocent. That'll be some sort of potion, most likely.'

_What about McGonagall, or Binns? Or Dumbledore?_

'I have no idea what a ghost would have to offer in terms of protection, so I think we can rule him out,' Azriel responded. 'As for McGonagall or Dumbledore, I have no clue other than they'd be either powerful, difficult to overcome, or both.'

_Flitwick and Madam Hooch are the only others I can think of._

'I don't know how useful flight would be in protecting the Stone, unless it's in some massive chamber being suspended in mid air in the centre of the room.' Azriel thought. 'I could see something being charmed though.'

Having run through all the ideas of what to expect, the Drake brothers went to sleep, agreeing that they would continue to keep a close watch on Snape and Quirrell to see if they could learn anything more before they made their attempt on the Stone.

Quirrell had turned out to be a little more resilient than they'd anticipated; over the next few weeks he definitely seemed to be getting paler and thinner, but it definitely didn't look as though he'd cracked yet.

Azriel had noted discreetly, that whenever they passed through the third floor on their way to and from classes, Potter, Red and Bookworm would listen through the door to the forbidden corridor to check that Fluffy was still there growling.

As well, Snape seemed to be sweeping around in his usual bad mood. Since nothing appeared out of the ordinary, Azriel deducted that the Stone was still safe for now. The trio had started trying to be morale boosters for Quirrell, and discouraging people from making fun of his stutter. Azriel wondered why they were bothering; Quirrell didn't need their support keeping quiet, he'd been managing that just fine on his own.

Bookworm had more on her mind than just the Philosopher's Stone though, as she had started drawing up revision timetables and colour coding all her notes. Her preparation was excessive but Azriel was in no position to tell her to back off a little, if not for her own peace of mind, but for everyone else's.

Someone needed to say something to her though, because she kept nagging people to follow her lead; Red and Potter in particular. She even tried once or twice to persuade Azriel but he really didn't need her help preparing for exams; he was keeping on top of all his schoolwork and he didn't need her to tell him what to do.

'Hermione, the exams are ages away,' Potter insisted one morning over breakfast.

'Ten weeks,' Bookworm snapped, quietly. 'That's not ages, that's like a second to Nicholas Flamel.'

'But we're not six hundred years old,' Red reminded her. 'Anyway, what are you revising for, you already know it all.'

'What am I revising for? Are you mad? You realise we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying a month ago, I don't know what's got into me ...'

Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Bookworm. They piled so much homework on them that the Easter Holidays weren't nearly as fun as the Christmas ones. It was hard to relax when Bookworm was in the same room as you reciting the twelve uses of dragon's blood or practising wand movements. Azriel had to make an effort to ignore her whenever she and the others were in the library.

'I'll never remember this,' Red burst out one afternoon, throwing down his quill and looking longingly out the window. It was the first really fine day they'd had in months, and they were wasting it inside with textbooks and mental torture.

Azriel almost tuned out the background noise until he heard Red say, 'Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?'

Azriel looked up as Hagrid shuffled into view, hiding something behind his back. He looked very out of place in his moleskin overcoat.

'Jus' lookin',' he said, in a shifty voice that got his interest at once. 'An' what're you lot up ter?' He looked suddenly suspicious. 'Yer not still lookin' fer Nicholas Flamel, are yeh?'

'Oh, we found out who he is ages ago,' said Red impressively, '_And_ we know what that dog's guarding, it's a Philosopher's St-'

'_Shhhh!_' Hagrid looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening. Azriel bent his head down and pretended nothing was wrong, but he felt Hagrid's gaze linger on him for a moment and wondered if the half-giant suspected.

'There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact,' said Potter, 'about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy –'

'SHHHH!' said Hagrid again. Honestly, Azriel thought, what are they thinking blurting out top secret information like that? 'Listen – come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell ye anythin', mind, but don't go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh –'

'See you later, then,' said Potter. Hagrid shuffled off.

'What was he hiding behind his back?' said Bookworm thoughtfully. Azriel silently cursed; he had a perfectly good vantage point to have seen what it was, but he hadn't thought to look.

'Do you think it had anything to do with the Stone?'

'I'm going to see what section he was in,' said Red, who'd had enough of working. He came back a minute later with a pile of books in his arms and slammed them down on the table.

'_Dragons!_' he whispered. Azriel had to strain to hear it, but he was alarmed by this statement. 'Hagrid was looking up stuff about dragons! Look at these: _Dragon Species of Great Britain and Ireland; From Egg To Inferno, A Dragon Keeper's Guide._'

'Hagrid's always wanted a dragon, he told me so the first time I ever met him,' said Potter. This was news to Azriel.

'But it's against our laws,' said Red. 'Dragon breeding was outlawed by the Warlocks' Convention of 1709, everyone knows that. It's hard to stop Muggles noticing us if we're keeping dragons in the back garden – anyway, you can't tame dragons, it's dangerous. You should see the burns Charlie's got off wild ones in Romania.'

Azriel remembered hearing Red talk about his older brother Charlie, who was in Romania working with dragons just as Red had said.

'But there aren't wild dragons in _Britain?_' said Potter.

'Of course there are,' said Red. 'Common Welsh Green and Hebridean Blacks. The Ministry of Magic has a job hushing them up, I can tell you. Our lot have to keep putting spells on Muggles who've spotted them, to make them forget.'

'So what on earth's Hagrid up to?' said Bookworm. Azriel already had an idea forming in his head, and he knew it was irrelevant to the Stone or it's protection but his curiosity had already been piqued, and he decided he would do a little investigating of his own.


	10. Chapter 9: Dragon Breath

**A/N:** My characters just can't help but get involved with Harry and his friends, can they? ;) I love some of the moments in this chapter, but the next chapter after this I think is my favourite.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

* * *

**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 9: Dragon Breath

Azriel made sure the others were still in the library when he packed up his things and left; he returned to his dorm room to put them away and retrieve his invisibility cloak, which he donned before returning to the library. After about an hour, they got up to go to Hagrid's hut, and Azriel was quick to follow them.

When they knocked on the door of the gamekeeper's hut, they were surprised to see that all the curtains were closed. Hagrid called 'Who is it?' before he let them in. Azriel slipped in past Hagrid when he opened the door, and moved to the other end of the room before the others came in. Hagrid shut the door quickly behind them once they were all inside.

It was stifling hot inside. Even though it was such a warm day, there was a fire blazing in the grate. What was Hagrid trying to do, Azriel wondered, give himself heatstroke? Hagrid made the others tea and offered them stoat sandwiches which were refused.

'So – yeh wanted ask me somethin'?'

'Yes,' said Potter. 'We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Philosopher's Stone apart from Fluffy.'

As it turned out, this visit might have been useful to his mission after all, Azriel thought. Hagrid frowned though; clearly he didn't want to talk about this. Azriel expected as much.

'O' course I can't,' he said. 'Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn' tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts – I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy.'

'Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you _do_ know, you know everything that goes on round here,' said Bookworm in a warm, flattering voice that made Azriel want to cringe. It seemed to work though; Hagrid's beard twitched and Azriel could tell the half-giant was smiling.

'We only wondered who had _done_ the guarding, really,' Bookworm went on, 'We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you.'

Hagrid's chest swelled at these last words. Potter and Red beamed at Bookworm. Azriel was impressed that her tactics had worked, even though he thought the act she had put on was plastic and see-through – in a word, pathetic. Kinda telling about Hagrid though, Azriel thought darkly.

'Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that ... let's see ... he borrowed Fluffy from me ... then some o' the teachers did enchantments ... Professor Sprout – Professor Flitwick – Professor McGonagall –' he ticked them off his fingers, while Azriel mentally checked each name next to the possibilities he and Alex had discussed previously. 'Professor Quirrell – an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape.'

'_Snape?_'

'Yeah – yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped _protect_ the stone, he's not about ter steal it.'

Azriel considered this information; he now knew for certain which teachers had offered protections for the stone, and given their areas of expertise, had a clearer idea of what to expect once he and Alex got past Fluffy. Snape, being one of the chosen to protect the Stone probably knew all the other enchantments and how to get past them, except for Quirrell's spell and how to get past Fluffy, which was really so simple.

'You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid?' said Potter anxiously. 'And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?'

'Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore,' said Hagrid proudly. Azriel knew this wasn't true; anyone who knew anything about the legendary Cerberus could tell you what their weaknesses are.

'Well, that's something,' Potter muttered to the others. 'Hagrid, can we have a window open? I'm boiling.' Azriel then realised just how hot he'd gotten in the room; the invisibility cloak was sticking to him.

'Can't, Harry, sorry,' said Hagrid. Azriel noticed him glance at the fire. Azriel glanced over too.

'Hagrid – what's _that?_'

Azriel knew what it was. In the very heart of the fire, underneath the kettle, was a huge, black egg. The sight of it reminded Azriel of the initial reason why he had come along to their secret meeting.

'Ah,' said Hagrid, fiddling nervously with his beard. 'That's – er ...'

'Where did you get it, Hagrid?' said Red, crouching over the fire to get a closer look at the egg. 'It must've cost you a fortune.'

'Won it,' said Hagrid. 'Las' night. I was down in the village havin' a few drinks an' got into a game o' cards with a stranger. Think he was quite glad ter get rid of it, ter be honest.'

'But what are you going to do with it when it's hatched?' said Bookworm. Good question, Azriel thought, staring at the egg in the fireplace.

'Well, I've bin doin' some readin',' said Hagrid, pulling a large book from under his pillow. 'Got this outta the library – _Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit_ – it's a bit outta date, o' course, but it's all in here. Keep the egg in the fire, 'cause their mothers breathe on 'em, see, an' when it hatches, feed it on a bucket o' brandy mixed with chicken blood every half hour. An' see here – how ter recognise diff'rent eggs – what I got there's a Norwegian Ridgeback. They're rare, them.'

They're also dangerous, Azriel thought, having one would be like having a death wish. Hagrid, meanwhile, looked very pleased with himself. Bookworm clearly didn't.

'Hagrid, you live in a _wooden house,_' she said. Epitome of obvious, Azriel thought dryly. Hagrid wasn't listening though, as he was humming merrily and stoking the fire. Definitely has a death wish, Azriel thought; that, or he's just plain stupid – although smart money's on all of the above.

Azriel made sure to tell Alex about Hagrid and the dragon egg at the first opportunity he got; Alex wanted to know just what the hell the half-giant was thinking believing he would be able to keep let alone raise the dragon without being caught. The fact that Hagrid lived in a wooden house was also a major point of concern.

They also discussed what Azriel had learned about the protections guarding the Stone; Azriel's theory about the teachers lending their aid had been confirmed by Hagrid's information.

'Hagrid, Snape, Flitwick, Sprout, Quirrell, McGonagall, Dumbledore. Seven enchantments.' Alex said, considering the options.

'Hagrid's protection is, of course, Fluffy.' Azriel stated. 'Snape and Sprout, we have determined, will be something related to their professions, which means something botanical and something brewed, respectively.

'Quirrell must have used some sort of charm according to what you overheard Snape saying,' Alex said, 'which leaves us with Flitwick, McGonagall and Dumbledore.'

'Honestly? I don't know what to expect from any of them. Flitwick may have used some sort of charm, but since we won't know what to expect until we go down the trap door, we have no way of knowing what to be prepared for. Same goes with McGonagall and Dumbledore; we just don't know enough to prepare our strategy to get to the stone.' Azriel said.

'Guess we'll just have to wing it,' Alex said dryly, not liking the idea but knowing they really didn't have much time or choice in the matter. 'What're you gonna do about the dragon?'

'Well, I'm staying out of this one if I can, since I've managed to avoid any more run-ins with Potter and his friends since we discovered Fluffy.' Azriel ran his fingers through his ponytail.

He didn't manage to stay out of it though, as one morning during breakfast Potter got a note. The contents had to have been important judging by the reactions of Potter, Red and Bookworm. Red was talking about skipping classes to go down to Hagrid's hut, so he figured it had something to do with the dragon. Knowing what he did about the dragon gestation period, and judging from the maturity of the egg when he'd seen it, Azriel hazarded a guess that it was hatching and that Hagrid wanted the others to come watch.

Bookworm, for obvious reasons, wouldn't hear of skipping classes, but Red was persistent.

'Hermione, how many times in our lives are we going to see a dragon hatching?' Red did have a point there; it was an irregular occurrence. That didn't mean it was a good idea though, because under normal circumstances the mother would be there when the egg hatched and if you weren't careful (or in other words, had the stupidity to be there at the time) you'd most likely end up being char-grilled by an over-protective hormonal female dragon.

'We've got lessons, we'll get in trouble, and that's nothing to what trouble Hagrid's going to be in when someone finds out what he's doing –'

'Shut up!' Potter whispered. Azriel immediately knew why, because he looked up from his breakfast to spot his cousin just feet away, having stopped to eavesdrop just as Azriel had been. Azriel didn't like the look on Draco's face; just how much had he overheard?

Azriel finished his breakfast quickly and hastened back to his dorm room in order to stow his invisibility cloak away in his book bag. Red, Potter and Bookworm were just leaving the Great Hall as the blond came down the Entrance Hall steps.

Red and Bookworm argued all the way to Herbology and in the end, Bookworm agreed to run down to Hagrid's with the other two during morning break. Azriel decided that would be when he donned his cloak and pursued them.

When the bell sounded from the castle at the end of their lesson, the three Gryffindors dropped their trowels at once and hurried through the grounds to the edge of the forest. Hagrid greeted them looking flushed and excited, and he led them inside his hut.

Azriel was about to pull out his invisibility cloak when he spotted Draco following after them. He promptly ignored the cloak and ran after his cousin, making sure his book bag didn't slide down his arm and hinder him.

'Where are you going? Isn't your next class the other way?' Azriel called out, using the Slytherins' timetable as an excuse to start conversation. Draco stopped at the sound of his voice and turned to glare.

'None of your business, Drake,' he sneered, resuming his progress. Azriel ran in front of him attempting to head him off.

'You're not supposed to be going into the forest, you know it's forbidden,' Azriel lied, having a bad feeling he would know the consequences if Draco found out about the dragon, so he pretended he didn't know anything. Draco didn't seem to be fooled though.

'There's something in that hut, and I'm going to find out what,' Draco said, eyes glittering maliciously. 'Now step aside.'

'No,' Azriel insisted, but Draco had already run around him and advanced on the hut. Azriel had no choice but to follow him. Draco, of course, got there first which Azriel was not pleased with at all.

He stopped just a few metres behind Draco when he saw through the window. The shell of the dragon egg was breaking apart; the baby Norwegian Ridgeback inside flopped onto the table. It's spiny wings were huge compared to its skinny jet body, it had a long snout with wide nostrils, the stubs of horns, and from what Azriel could tell from this distance, bulging orange eyes. And Draco Malfoy had seen the entire thing.

Azriel stood there dumbly for a moment, not exactly sure how to respond until Draco turned sharply and ran past him. He caught a glimpse of Hagrid, looking through the window, face white. Azriel looked back at Draco who had already made good distance.

Azriel heard the door open and Potter stepping out to get a better look, but by then Azriel was already running, trying to catch up to Draco before he could tell anyone and do more damage.

Draco managed to give Azriel the slip though, and Alex didn't know where he'd gone either which was not a good sign at all. If neither of them could find Draco then there was no telling what could happen. The best they could do was watch and wait for any signs Draco had told anyone.

The smile lurking on Draco's face over the next week was unnerving; he always seemed to be in the presence of someone, so it was impossible to get him alone. It had seemed as though he hadn't told anyone yet which was hopefully a good sign – or at least a positive one, because they had no idea what Draco intended to do with this information.

What Azriel didn't need was the distrustful looks he kept getting from Red and Potter; as they would clearly have known from his ponytail that the second blond figure they had seen outside the cabin had been Azriel. The blond had to pretend as much as they did that he knew nothing out of the ordinary, but he knew the others, least of all Bookworm, would not trust his motives any more than they did Draco's.

They spent a lot of their free time at Hagrid's hut, Azriel had observed, which meant they were with Hagrid helping to care for the dragon, and probably figuring out what to do with it.

Azriel knew Draco could go to anyone at any minute with the information of the dragon's presence on school ground; this included Dumbledore. Azriel considered it logical that they would try to figure out with Hagrid a way to get rid of the dragon, and quickly.

From what he knew about Hagrid's personality and attitude towards magical creatures, and the dragon in particular, Azriel also reasoned that Hagrid would not part easily with his new pet despite the imminent danger caused by his keeping the thing.

The following week dragged by. Wednesday night found Bookworm and Potter sitting in the common room, long after everyone else had apparently gone to bed. The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Red appeared out of nowhere as he pulled off Potter's invisibility cloak. He'd most likely been down at Hagrid's hut helping with the dragon.

Azriel had been hidden in a dark corner of the common room, wrapped up in his own invisibility cloak. He was surprised to find out that Potter had one of his own. He stayed silent though, to watch the scene unfolding.

'It bit me!' Red said, showing the others his hand, which was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. 'I'm not going to be able to hold a quill for a week. I tell you, that dragon's the most horrible animal I've ever met, but the way Hagrid goes on about it, you'd think it was a fluffy little bunny rabbit.'

Oddly enough, Azriel could imagine Hagrid doing exactly that. The thought was not comforting to Azriel in the least, wondering what might happen if the half-giant were to forget that it was even a dragon he was dealing with.

'When it bit me he told me off for frightening it. And when I left, he was singing it a lullaby.' There was a tap on the window, cutting him off from complaining more.

'It's Hedwig!' said Potter, hurrying to the window to let in his owl. 'She'll have Charlie's answer!'

The trio put their heads together to read the note; since they were alone, Azriel crept up behind them and read over their shoulders, thankful they weren't so huddled as to obstruct it completely from view.

_Dear Ron,_

_How are you? Thanks for the letter – I'd be glad to take the Norwegian Ridgeback, but it won't be easy getting him here. I think the best thing will be to send him over with some friends of mine who are coming to visit me next week. Trouble is, they mustn't be seen carrying an illegal dragon._

_Could you get the Ridgeback up the tallest tower at midnight on Saturday? They can meet you there and take him away while it's still dark._

_Send me an answer as soon as possible._

_Love,_

_Charlie_

The trio looked at each other, while Azriel backed off so he didn't risk getting knocked by the others and being exposed.

'We've got the invisibility cloak, said Potter, 'It shouldn't be too difficult – I think the cloak's big enough to cover two of us and Norbert.'

Azriel was only faintly surprised to learn the dragon had been given a name; but it was a testament to how bad the last week had been when Bookworm and Red both agreed with Potter. Bookworm never agreed to break school rules, but the situation with Draco had apparently deemed it necessary. It was also clear that they were ready to do anything to get rid of Norbert – and Draco.

There was a hitch. By next morning, Red's bitten hand had swollen to twice its usual size. Azriel pretended to be just as clueless as everyone else, but since he knew about the dragon, the trio probably was also aware that he'd figured it out.

They didn't seem to want to risk sending Red to get help from Madam Pomfrey for fear she would recognise a dragon bite when she saw one, but by the afternoon there was no choice, as the cut had turned a nasty shade of green. Azriel cursed himself when he remembered that Norwegian Ridgebacks were poisonous, and since he knew about it, he should have said something to them, although he did consider that the trio might just as easily not believe him.

Azriel was on his way down to the castle grounds to sit and think when he came across Draco clutching a book. It was the first chance Azriel had been alone with his cousin, so he decided to take action. Draco hadn't spotted him passing in the opposite direction, too engrossed in reading something.

Azriel purposefully knocked into him as he passed, causing the Slytherin to spin around, dropping the book in the process.

'Watch where you're going,' Draco snapped, picking up the book while glaring at Azriel. Draco turned and stalked off before Azriel could think to say anything to him. It was then that he noticed the letter on the ground and picked it up – it was the letter the trio had received from Ron's brother Charlie.

Draco not only knew about the dragon, but now he also knew that they were trying to get rid of it this Saturday night. Azriel's face hardened into a scowl; he didn't want to get directly involved with the situation – wanting to leave this mess to Potter and his friends to clean up - but with his cousin now in the equation it seemed he didn't have much choice.

Azriel folded up the note and put it in his pocket and turned around to walk back to the Gryffindor common room. As he was nearing the Hospital Wing, he heard the voices of Potter and Bookworm.

'It's too late to change the plan now,' Potter was telling Bookworm. 'We haven't got time to send Charlie another owl and this could be our only chance to get rid of Norbert. We'll have to risk it. And we _have_ got the invisibility cloak, Malfoy doesn't know about that.'

They didn't notice Azriel as they were coming out of the Hospital Wing, and they went off in the opposite direction to Azriel, down to the Great Hall while the blond resumed his course back to the common room.

When Saturday came around, Azriel kept a close watch on Potter and Bookworm, with Alex doing the same for Draco. The Slytherin was definitely planning to do something tonight to hinder the Gryffindors' attempt to be rid of the illegal dragon, and Azriel was determined to be there to make sure Draco didn't get in the way.

It was late when they finally left the common room, so Azriel gave them a short lead while he prepared himself with his wand and daggers, as well as his invisibility cloak. He didn't don the cloak right away, instead holding onto it as it was very dark and cloudy outside so he had plenty of shadow cover.

Peeves had been a temporary setback, since he had been busy amusing himself in the Great Hall by bouncing tennis balls against the wall. Potter and Bookworm could only wait in hiding for the poltergeist to finish without catching them.

Azriel decided they didn't have time to waste on this nonsense, so he used his powers from his own hiding place to attack Peeves with his own tennis balls. The poltergeist was not happy with this but couldn't find a culprit so he sulked away off to the dungeons.

Potter and Bookworm seemed to be more concerned with getting to the dragon than to realise how exactly Peeves had been foiled; Azriel knew Bookworm would probably have connected the dots if she wasn't already preoccupied.

Azriel did put his cloak on when he got outside and followed the others to Hagrid's hut. The half-giant had already packed Norbert into a large crate.

'He's got lots o' rats an' some brandy fer the journey,' said Hagrid in a muffled voice. 'An' I packed his teddy bear in case he gets lonely.'

From inside the crate came ripping noises that sounded to Azriel as though teddy was having his head torn off. Azriel rolled his eyes at the idea of a dragon having a teddy bear; baby or not, it was certainly not a human and didn't need to be treated like one.

'Bye bye, Norbert!' Hagrid sobbed, as Potter and Bookworm covered the crate with their invisibility cloak and stepped underneath it themselves. 'Mummy will never forget you!'

Azriel suppressed the intense urge to groan. Did this guy have a severe mental deficiency, or what? By then, the others had started transporting the crate back up to the castle; all he had to do was follow the soft noises the dragon was making from inside the crate, and once they were inside, the scuffle of Potter's and Bookworm's shoes.

Midnight ticked nearer as they heaved Norbert up the marble staircase in the entrance hall and along the dark corridors. Up another staircase, then another – even a shortcut Potter had taken them down didn't make it any easier or less time consuming.

'Nearly there!' Potter panted as they reached the corridor beneath the tallest tower.

There was a sudden movement ahead of them which must have taken Potter and Bookworm by surprise because their shoes squeaked to an abrupt halt. Being invisible, Azriel stayed where he was, but he heard the faint sound of shoes scuffling away from him and assumed they'd moved into a corner in the shadows.

Ahead, there were two dark outlines of people grappling with each other ten feet away. A lamp flared. Professor McGonagall, in a tartan dressing-gown and a hair-net, had Draco by the ear. At least he didn't have to worry about his cousin interfering now.

'Detention!' she shouted. 'And twenty points from Slytherin! Wandering around in the middle of the night, how _dare_ you –'

'You don't understand, Professor, Harry Potter's coming – he's got a dragon!'

'What utter rubbish! How dare you tell such lies! Come on – I shall see Professor Snape about you, Malfoy!'

Once McGonagall and Draco had gone, Potter and Bookworm's footsteps resumed toward the spiral staircase up to the top of the tower. Once they'd stepped out into the cold night air, they threw off their cloak. Azriel kept hidden underneath his own. Bookworm was doing some sort of jig.

'Malfoy's got detention! I could sing!'

'Don't,' Potter advised her out loud at the same time Azriel silently suggested it.

Chuckling presumably about Draco, they waited. Norbert was thrashing around in his crate. Azriel left the tower once he saw the broomsticks arriving with Charlie's friends. He took off his cloak again, figuring now he wouldn't need it again tonight, as he still had plenty of shadow cover.

He was somewhere on the fifth floor when he was nearly knocked over by Neville Longbottom running in the other direction.

'Neville?' Azriel asked in surprise. 'What're you doing up?'

'I've got to warn Harry,' Neville gasped, 'I heard Malfoy say he was going to catch Harry. He said Harry has a dragon!'

Neville took off at a run again, and Azriel cursed, chasing after him.

'Neville, get back here! You know Malfoy was just trying to cause trouble.'

'But that's the thing!' Neville squeaked, still running. 'Harry's not in the dorm. Neither is Hermione!'

Azriel cursed again, not needing this right now. Neville was somehow able to keep a solid distance from the blond, frantically looking for Potter and Bookworm. By now, they were probably on their way back to Gryffindor tower and Neville had missed them.

'Neville, stop!' Azriel called out. 'You shouldn't be risking yourself like this! You don't know if you'll run into Mrs. Norris, or Peeves, or Filch –'

Neville wasn't listening though; he continued running, and he was steadily approaching the astronomy tower unconsciously. Azriel didn't like going back there; he didn't have time to put his invisibility cloak because he needed to catch up to Neville, but he wouldn't be surprised if McGonagall was still lurking around the area.

'Neville, STOP!' Azriel yelled, as the other boy ran round a corner. 'You're going to get us in –' at that moment, Azriel too rounded the corner to find Neville in the clutches of Filch, '- trouble.'

Azriel could feel his stomach twisting. He shot a quick glare at Neville who flinched as Filch silently beckoned for them to follow him, a twisted and triumphant smirk on his face. Along the way, they ran into McGonagall, who looked murderous as she took them from Filch's care and escorted them away herself. They were led to McGonagall's office – where Potter and Bookworm were sitting and waiting.

'Harry!' Neville burst out, the moment he saw the other two. 'I was trying to find you to warn you, I heard Malfoy saying he was going to catch you, he said you had a drag –'

Neville gave a painful squeak when Azriel trod forcefully on Neville's foot to shut him up, coupled with a warning glance. Potter was shaking his head violently in a gesture for Neville to be quiet; Bookworm seemed to be the only one to notice Azriel's action.

McGonagall moved behind her desk before the four of them, looking more likely to breathe fire than even the dragon had been as she towered over the four of them. Azriel was the only one not quaking in fear, though he figured he might be too if he weren't still hopped up on adrenaline.

'I would not have believed it of any of you. Mr Filch says you were up the astronomy tower. It's one o'clock in the morning. _Explain yourselves._'

It was the first time Bookworm had ever failed to answer a teacher's question. She was staring at her slippers, as still as a statue. None of the others spoke; Azriel knew that the dragon defence would be just as implausible now as it had been when she had cornered Draco earlier.

'I think I've got a good idea of what's been going on,' said Professor McGonagall. 'It doesn't take a genius to work it out. You fed Draco Malfoy some cock and bull story about a dragon, trying to get him out of bed and into trouble. I've already caught him. I suppose you think it's funny that Longbottom and Drake here heard the story and believed it, too?'

Azriel shared a glance with Bookworm; they did not need words to express that they both knew it was the truth. Neville looked stunned and hurt, however; poor, blundering Neville – Azriel had a feeling what it must have cost him to try and find them in the dark, to warn them.

'I'm disgusted,' said Professor McGonagall. 'Five students out of bed in one night! I've never heard of such a thing before! You, Miss Granger, I thought you had more sense. As for you, Mister Potter, I thought Gryffindor meant more to you than this. And _you_, Mister Drake, I don't give a fig who your family is but that doesn't give you the right to blatantly disregard the rules just as your cousin did!'

Azriel's eyes widened slightly, and he could feel the others' eyes on him. Whatever he was expecting her to say, he certainly didn't expect _this_.

'Yes Mister Drake,' McGonagall said impatiently, 'I remember _exactly_ who your mother is and which family she came from, and I highly doubt she would be any more displeased than I am.'

Azriel couldn't quite relax, given McGonagall had mentioned his cousin – albeit not by name, he knew that the other Gryffindors were curious to know who his cousin was, and what they had done. Azriel really didn't want it known that it was Draco whom Azriel was related to – the same Draco that had also gotten into trouble over tonight's escapades.

'All four of you will receive detentions – yes, you too, Mister Longbottom, _nothing_ gives you the right to walk around school at night, especially these days, it's very dangerous – and fifty points will be taken from Gryffindor.'

'_Fifty?_' Potter gasped – Azriel realised they would lose the lead that Potter had won in the last Quidditch match.

'Fifty points _each,_' said Professor McGonagall, breathing heavily through her long pointed nose. Azriel was not surprised by this, but that didn't stop him from feeling upset and annoyed at it. He stayed silent though, but the others weren't so withdrawn.

'Professor – please –'

'You _can't _–'

'Don't tell me what I can and can't do, Potter. Now get back to bed, all of you. I've never been more ashamed of Gryffindor students.'

Azriel powered out of McGonagall's office and out of sight, away from the others. He knew Bookworm would want to enquire directly about what McGonagall had meant about Azriel's cousin, but he really didn't feel like explaining to her about his connection to Draco and everything that meant about his involvement in the night's events. Sure, he had gotten into trouble out of it too, but he'd got what he originally intended.

Two hundred points lost. That put Gryffindor in last place by a large margin. In one night, any chance Gryffindor had at winning the house cup had been ruined. Azriel supposed he shouldn't really care either way, but the decision had been so sudden that he hadn't had the time to reach a reaction other than self-disgust and bitterness.

Azriel knew Potter didn't sleep that night, and Neville was sobbing into his pillow for ages. They were clearly wondering what would happen in the morning when the rest of the house found out their points were all missing. Azriel knew he would just have to shake it off and act like he was unphased by any of it.


	11. Chapter 10: Consequences

**A/N:** Sorry it's been a few days since I last updated. Sorta forgot to keep up with posting. I really like how this chapter turned out, especially toward the end. The next chapter after this is my favourite part of the story, and I think this is a good lead-in to when the major action really starts.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 10: Consequences

It had been a great surprise when Azriel found out in the morning just how big a deal it had become – Azriel was never the most social or likable person in his house or year level, but he got the distinct impression that he was _hated_ by a vast number of the student population, being the most well-known of the guilty party, after Potter of course.

Draco and his fellow Slytherins bar Alex were not helping the situation by whistling and cheering whenever he or Potter was about. Draco had tried insulting Azriel once but was threatened with a very nasty hex for his troubles. When Draco had demanded to Alex that he get his brother to stand down, Alex did so, but not before telling Draco that if it happened again, he would not act as Draco's personal shield.

There was a rumour going around that Potter had attempted to resign from the Gryffindor Quidditch team, but as far as Azriel knew, it was just a rumour. Azriel hoped it wasn't true; he may not like Potter but he'd be damned if Gryffindor were to give up such a brilliant Seeker!

Neville and Bookworm had been hit hard by the negative attention; Neville had become even more timid and bumbling in class, and Bookworm had stopped raising her hand to answer questions. Azriel had picked up the slack, acting as he'd planned like he was completely unaffected by his classmates' scorn. He supposed his feigned indifference was infuriating, although he silently challenged anyone to confront him about it; so far, none had risen to his challenge.

Luckily, the upcoming exams turned out to be a good enough distraction that the massed scorn died down before long. Azriel frequently met up with his brother in the library and they would revise together, going over each other's notes and re-writing more complete versions of them which the brothers would share between them.

Potter had evidently taken to a new resolution not to get into trouble because he stopped doing stupid things like going out at night, and generally staying out of trouble. Azriel had liked this idea; it meant Potter had probably given up his quest to gain the Philosopher's Stone, meaning the way would be all the more clearer for himself and Alex when they moved in on it.

Something happened a week before the exams were due to start, however; Azriel had been leaving the library after a study session with Alex, and he ran into Potter on his way back to the Gryffindor common room. They were headed the same way, so they walked in silence, ignoring each other's existence.

They heard someone whimpering from a classroom up ahead; Azriel was intrigued, and evidently so was Potter, because they both drew closer to the classroom door to listen. They could hear Quirrell's voice coming from inside.

'No – no – not again, please –'

It sounded as though someone was threatening him. Potter moved closer. Azriel couldn't just ignore what was going on, so he moved closer too, figuring it had something to do with Snape.

'All right – all right –' they heard Quirrell sob.

Next second, Quirrell came hurrying out of the classroom straightening his turban. He was pale and looked as though he was about to cry. He strode out of sight; apparently he hadn't noticed either of the students standing in the hallway, even though they had been right in plain view and impossible to miss.

The two Gryffindors watched Quirrell's departure then exchanged confused yet distrustful glances. Potter then took a look into the classroom, and Azriel did the same. It was empty, but a door stood ajar at the other end. Three guesses who had probably used it. Potter looked like he wanted to go into the classroom, but he decided against it; instead he turned around and went back in the direction of the library. Probably looking for Bookworm and Red to tell them what he'd just learned.

Azriel did step into the classroom, however; he walked over to the other door and looked down the corridor. No sight of Snape, who had probably used some sort of secret passage and was now long gone. Azriel turned around again and left the way he came, and he followed Potter back to the library, not with the intention to eavesdrop on Potter's conversation, but because he was hoping to catch Alex before he left.

As luck would have it, Alex was just stepping outside the library when his brother got there.

'Hey, Az. What's up? Forgotten something? Because I'm pretty sure you didn't leave anything behind.' Alex said. Azriel looked around.

'Can we go outside near the lake, somewhere quiet? We need to talk.' Azriel said, peeking inside the library for Potter and the others. They must have gone somewhere private to talk as well, because they weren't to be seen.

'Sure,' Alex said cautiously, and he followed his brother down to the entrance hall and then out onto the grounds. They walked in silence, stopping on the bank of the lake.

'Alright,' Alex said, 'what's up?'

'Apart from the public disownment, you mean?' Azriel asked with a combination of wry smile and scowl on his face.

'How's that working out for you?' Alex smirked back.

'I'm not letting it get to me. Not like it's gotten to the others though. I'm determined to make sure that if people don't like me, they're gonna hate me now.' Azriel said with only slight amusement, although his smile won out over his smirk.

'I thought they already hated you.' Alex said, laughing. 'It's kinda hard not to notice.'

'Yeah, well at least they haven't noticed so much that I've had to urge to start removing eyeballs,' Azriel said dryly. 'Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about.'

'Clearly,' Alex responded rolling his eyes, but smirking anyway.

'It's Quirrell,' Azriel got straight to the point, 'I think he's finally cracked.'

'Cracked how?' Alex's smile disappeared. 'You mean he's told Snape how to get past his enchantment?'

'I think so,' Azriel frowned. 'Just now, after I left the library. Potter was leaving too, and we were going back to the Gryffindor dorms. That's when we heard Quirrell and Snape in an empty classroom.'

'And Quirrell told him?' Alex asked.

'Well, we heard Quirrell. Snape didn't say anything we could hear, but from the way Quirrell sounded like a nervous wreck, it could only have meant two things; one, the person he was talking to was Snape and two, he was so scared he would have told his secret in self-preservation. He didn't even notice Potter and I standing right there outside the classroom door when he ran away. Snape must have left through the door on the other side of the room, because we didn't see him. Potter's in the library right now spilling the beans to Red and Bookworm.'

'That's not good,' Alex conceded. 'Do you think Potter will get involved again now? I know it seemed like he was pulling his hat from the ring after the whole dragon thing.'

'I don't know, but I hope not. I wouldn't count on it though, so we've gotta do something quickly.'

'Snape still doesn't know how to get past Fluffy, does he?' Alex asked. Azriel shook his head.

'Not that I know of, but really; any respectable and smart wizard worth his salt would know what really gets to a Cerberus, I mean, there's a proverb about it and everything!' Azriel sighed in exasperation.

'Well, at least Fluffy won't be the issue when we go for the stone.' Alex replied. Azriel nodded.

'We just have to make sure Snape isn't getting ready to go after it, so we can get in first.'

'Which means you'll have to keep an eye on it, while I make sure Potter and the others don't have a change of heart,' Azriel said, starting to walk back up to the castle.

Alex followed him, and they walked in companionable silence back up to the castle. They parted ways in the entrance hall, with Alex returning to the dungeons while Azriel went back to the Gryffindor common room by way of the library.

As he was passing the library door, he could hear Bookworm's voice inside.

'Go to Dumbledore,' she was saying, 'that's what we should have done ages ago. If we try anything ourselves we'll be thrown out for sure.'

'But we've got no _proof!_' said Potter. 'Quirrell's too scared to back us up. Snape's only got to say he doesn't know how the troll got in at Halloween and that he was nowhere near the third floor – who do you think they'll believe, him or us?'

Him, Azriel thought grudgingly, although I can personally vouch for his whereabouts on Halloween, I was there. Not like they'd believe _me_ on that one either, though.

'It's not exactly a secret we hate him,' Potter continued, 'Dumbledore'll think we made it up to get him sacked. Filch wouldn't help us if his life depended on it, he's too friendly with Snape, and the more students get thrown out, the better, he'll think. And don't forget, we're not supposed to know about the Stone or Fluffy. That'll take a lot of explaining.'

Solid points, all of them; which was exactly why the Drake brothers were taking matters into their own hands in regards to the Stone's safety. Red must have been on the same wavelength as the Drake brothers however, annoyingly.

'If we just do a bit of poking around –' Red had spoken up, but he was cut off by Potter.

'No,' said Potter flatly, 'we've done enough poking around.' Their voices died down after that; presumably, they'd gone back to studying.

Azriel reached out to Alex with his telepathy as he resumed his course for the Gryffindor common room.

_What's up now?_ Alex responded quickly.

'I think Potter's officially out of the running for the Stone,' Azriel thought back.

_That quick, huh?_

'They were still in the library when I passed by. Bookworm wanted them to go to Dumbledore, but Potter shut her down. Red still wants to take the do-it-yourself approach but Potter shut him down too.'

_That'll make one less problem for us, then._

Azriel nodded, since he was alone on the staircase and he didn't have to worry about someone seeing the gesture.

'What's the word on Snape? Anything?' Azriel thought, approaching the final set of stairs up to Gryffindor Tower.

_He's in his office right now, grading OWL-level essays. That should keep his mind off the Stone for a little while, at least._

'That's something,' Azriel muttered under his breath. 'Okay. Keep me informed.' He thought, ending their conversation. He reached the portrait and gave her the password, stepping inside. He ignored the glares of some of the older students as he retreated to his dorm room to put away his books and things. Neville came into the dorm a minute later, looking miserable.

'Hey Neville, what's up?' Azriel asked, in concern.

'Nothing,' Neville replied. It didn't look like nothing.

'You don't honestly expect me to believe that, do you?' Azriel asked flatly, looking Neville directly in the eye. The other boy flinched and looked down. He wordlessly passed Azriel and lay down on his bed.

'It wasn't a Howler, was it?' Azriel asked, turning to face Neville. The other boy nodded silently.

'From my grandmother,' Neville replied after a moment. 'She's only just gotten word of my punishment and why I got it. She was furious.'

Azriel frowned. He didn't know they were sending out notifications to their parents and guardians about the offence. Although he supposed since his parents were a long way away back in America, it would take time for the news to reach them.

'How many people heard the Howler?' Azriel asked.

'I'm not sure,' Neville said, sadly. 'The owl found me outside on my way back to the castle from the greenhouses. The noise probably got a lot further because of the open space.'

Azriel fought a wince, wondering why he hadn't heard anything.

'What time did you get the Howler?' Azriel asked.

'A couple of hours ago,' Neville replied. 'I'd been in the common room trying to study but I wasn't getting anything done so I went down to the greenhouses to clear my head. The owl caught me on the way back.'

'Okay,' Azriel said. 'I was wondering why I hadn't heard anything. I've just been outside.'

'Oh.' Neville said, quietly. After a silent moment, he asked, 'when are we going to receive our detentions?'

'I don't know,' Azriel said, not liking the thought of it. 'I'm not sure why they've waited so long to dish out our punishments. You'd think by now they would have gotten them out of the way.'

'I wonder what we're going to have to do.' Neville squeaked, paling a little. 'I'd hate to have detention with Snape.'

'I severely hope not,' Azriel said emphatically. 'I'd probably be too tempted to hex his face off before long.'

Neville tried to suppress a surprised snort of laughter. Azriel smirked at him.

'C'mon, surely you would do the same if you could?' Azriel said wryly.

'I'd probably mess it up,' Neville said.

'Oh, afraid your aim will be off and you'll hex somewhere a little lower?' Azriel said innocently. Neville thought about this comment for a moment before blushing.

'Now wouldn't that be even better than hexing off his face?' Azriel grinned wickedly at Neville, knowing he was thinking exactly the same thing Azriel was.

'Oh no, I could never do that!' Neville squeaked.

'I bet I could. And given the opportunity and circumstances, I think I would.' Azriel said, pulling his wand out of its holster and twirling it in his fingers.

Neville was silent for a minute, and Azriel fell silent as well, putting his wand back into its holster on his belt and sitting on his own bed.

'That night,' Neville piped up, 'when we were caught by McGonagall. What did she mean about your cousin?'

Azriel frowned. He really didn't want to talk about this, and he was hoping that since the subject hadn't been breached til now, that it wasn't going to be.

'McGonagall apparently remembers my mother,' Azriel replied, 'most likely. Mom was a student here at Hogwarts. You know I'm pureblood, right? I've got a cousin in Hogwarts from her side of my family. We don't really have anything to do with each other – he doesn't even know.'

'Which house is your cousin in, do you know?,' Neville asked slowly, half-afraid of the answer.

'He's a Slytherin,' Azriel said with distaste, 'and you know what they're like with rules.' Azriel explained, hoping this would satisfy Neville's curiosity and he wouldn't question any further.

'So your mother's from a pureblood family around here, then?' Neville asked. It would have been easy enough just to say 'yes' but from the look on Neville's face he was also expecting a name.

'Yeah,' Azriel sighed. 'My mom's English. She was a Slytherin too, so I don't suppose you'll be happy to know which family she's from though.'

'Why not?' Neville asked.

'Well, that cousin of mine leaves a lot to be desired,' Azriel muttered under his breath, but Neville caught it anyway.

'Who exactly is your cousin?' Neville asked suspiciously. 'You obviously know who he is even if he doesn't know you.'

'Can we not talk about him please?' Azriel snapped. 'He already did enough damage over this whole drag –' Azriel cut himself short with a gasp, realising in his sudden temper that he'd revealed too much. Neville realised that Azriel was about to say 'dragon', and Azriel watched his face in dismay as he saw Neville connecting the dots in his head.

'What?' Azriel asked, not liking the expression on Neville's face.

'Is – Malfoy's not – Are you related to Malfoy?' Neville stuttered, afraid of the answer. Azriel winced and cursed.

'Yes,' Azriel spat out, scowling. 'Draco is my cousin. Mom is his dad's sister. Believe me; I don't really like the idea of being related to someone like _that._'

'Does Mal – I mean, are you _sure_ he doesn't know?' Neville asked next, a little colour returning to his face, as his eyes flicked up to the blond hair on Azriel's head – an unusual enough shade that happened to also be present on Draco's head.

'No, he doesn't. And I plan on keeping it that way.'

'I won't say anything!' Neville said quickly, nodding his head enthusiastically to try and convince Azriel of his honesty. Azriel didn't need the gesture to be convinced.

'I trust you,' Azriel said. Neville looked slightly relieved. Azriel left the dorm room after that, leaving Neville on his own. He returned the glares of a few still-angry Gryffindors as he walked out of the portrait hole.

Azriel spent the rest of his day wandering the castle, taking the time to explore the place in detail. While he explored, he thought about his upcoming detention and what to do about Neville knowing his and Alex's secret regarding Draco.

The next morning, he finally got an answer regarding when the detention would take place, as he – along with Potter, Bookworm and Neville - received an owl during breakfast. Looking over at the Slytherin table, Azriel noted that Draco had received one too. Alex had also noticed. The notes all read the same:

_Your detention will take place at eleven o'clock tonight._

_Meet Mr Filch in the entrance hall._

_Prof. M. McGonagall_

Azriel had half-expected Bookworm to complain about an entire night of revision being lost, but she was silent. Probably thinking she'd deserved what she'd gotten. Azriel wondered what exactly they would be doing for detention.

_Finally receiving your detention, I wager?_ Alex's thoughts cut into his head, having correctly assessed the situation. Azriel gave a subtle nod, which luckily no one at the Gryffindor table saw.

'Yeah, tonight. Eleven o'clock.' Azriel thought back. 'Why, I have no idea. The note doesn't say what we're doing, just to meet Filch in the entrance hall at the appropriate time.'

_Well that's not helpful. What would they need students for at that hour?_

'My thoughts exactly,' Azriel thought sourly. 'More importantly, what would need doing at that hour that they'd entrust with a bunch of first years?

_You know we can take care of ourselves._

'Yeah, _we_ can. You honestly can't say the same for Potter and the others. I mean, Draco's a spoiled brat and would never have been in this sort of trouble before. Neville, though it pains me to say it, is a flake and borderline pushover. Bookworm may be smart but I doubt her ability to function in an active environment until I see proof.'

_And Potter?_

'Stubborn and hard-headed. More likely to barge in without all the details and bound to get into trouble. That's exactly how we all got into this mess in the first place.'

_I see your point. This is the guy who insisted on sticking to his original plan for getting rid of an illicit dragon despite the danger posed by our blabbermouth cousin._

'Oh yeah, before I forget, Neville knows,' Azriel thought.

_Knows what?_

'About our cousin.' Across the hall over at the Slytherin table, Alex's eyes widened imperceptibly in surprise, him barely managing to contain his emotions so they weren't reflected to the students around him.

_How does he know?_

'Partly my fault,' Azriel thought bitterly. 'It was basically McGonagall that revealed that we have a cousin, and that she knows who our Mom is. Neville wouldn't leave it alone, and I let slip about our cousin's involvement in the dragon fiasco. I never mentioned names, but he connected the rest of the dots on his own. What you do need to know is that he's prepared to keep it a secret because I told him I wanted it that way.'

_I'll be taking your word for it,_ Alex thought, although he was plainly unhappy about this development. _Let me know how the detention goes, okay?_

'Okay,' Azriel thought back.

At eleven o'clock, Bookworm and Potter said goodnight to Red in the common room before walking down to the entrance hall with him and Neville. Filch was already there – and so was Draco. Neville glanced nervously between the two cousins, something which Azriel noticed and was hoping Bookworm was too distracted to pick up on. Draco hadn't seemed to notice, looking slightly uncomfortable and out of his element.

'Follow me,' said Filch, lighting a lamp and leading them outside. This definitely had Azriel wondering what was going to happen. He'd equipped himself with his daggers as well as his wand ready for whatever could possibly come up.

'I bet you'll think twice about breaking a school rule again, won't you, eh?' Filch said, leering at them. 'Oh yes ... hard work and pain are the best teachers if you ask me ... It's just a pity they let the old punishments die out ... hang you by your wrists from the ceiling for a few days, I've got the chains still in my office, keep 'em well oiled in case they're ever needed ... Right, off we go, and don't think of running off, now, it'll be worse for you if you do.'

Azriel already disliked Filch intensely, but the caretaker's ramblings of archaic punishments just left him cold.

They marched off across the dark grounds. Neville kept sniffing; he was already getting scared and upset and they hadn't even started yet. He must have been thinking their punishment would be something really horrible, or Filch wouldn't be sounding so delighted.

The moon was bright, but clouds scudding across it kept throwing them into darkness, putting Azriel on edge. Ahead, he could see the lighted window of Hagrid's hut. Then they heard a distant shout.

'Is that you, Filch? Hurry up, I want ter get started.'

Azriel was not comforted by the fact that they would be working with Hagrid. It was his dragon that was the source of all this trouble to begin with. Potter must have been visibly relieved though, because Filch said to him, 'I suppose you think you'll be enjoying yourself with that oaf? Well, think again, boy – it's into the forest you're going and I'm much mistaken if you'll all come out in one piece.'

At this, Neville let out a little moan and Draco stopped dead in his tracks. Azriel glared incredulously at the caretaker.

'The forest?' Draco repeated, and he didn't sound quite as cool as usual, despite his best effort at disdain. 'We can't go in there at night – there's all sorts of things in there – werewolves I heard.'

Neville clutched the sleeve of Azriel's robe and made a choking noise. Azriel looked at him; his face was pale and grim, and he was obviously terrified before they'd even started.

'That's your lookout, isn't it?' said Filch, his voice cracking with glee. 'Should've thought of them werewolves before you got in trouble, shouldn't you?'

'In our defence, we weren't to know at the time that we'd be out here at night as our punishment,' Azriel countered. Hindsight sucks like that, he thought darkly.

Filch gave Azriel and snarled, 'I'll show you to talk back to me like that!'

'What're you going to do, lecture me to death?' Azriel muttered. Out loud, he said; 'We're already going into the forbidden forest; I'm not certain extra punishment is necessary.'

Filch looked about ready to spit bullets, his face contorting in rage which he was trying to suppress.

Hagrid came striding towards them out of the dark, with his dog Fang at his heel. He was carrying a large crossbow, and a quiver of arrows hung over his shoulder.

'Abou' time,' he said. 'I bin waitin' fer half an hour already. All right, Harry, Hermione?'

'I shouldn't be too friendly to them, Hagrid,' said Filch coldly, sparing a glare for Azriel, 'they're here to be punished, after all.'

'That's why yer late, is it?' said Hagrid, frowning at Filch. 'Bin lecturin' them, eh? 'Snot your place ter do that. Yeh've done yer bit, I'll take over from here.'

'I'll be back at dawn,' said Filch, 'for what's left of them,' he added nastily, and he turned and started back towards the castle, his lamp bobbing away in the darkness.

Draco now turned to Hagrid.

'I'm not going in that forest,' he said, and Azriel was quick to hear the note of panic in his voice.

'Yeh are if yeh want ter stay at Hogwarts,' said Hagrid fiercely. 'Yeh've done wrong an' now yeh've got ter pay fer it.'

'But this is servant stuff, it's not for students to do. I thought we'd be writing lines or something, if my father knew I was doing this, he'd –'

'- tell yer that's how it is at Hogwarts,' Hagrid growled. 'Writin' lines! What good's that ter anyone? Yeh'll do summat useful or yeh'll get out. If yeh think yer father'd rather you were expelled, then get back off ter the castle an' pack. Go on!'

Draco didn't move. He looked at Hagrid furiously but then dropped his gaze. Azriel was mildly surprised Draco was going along with this, but he had no idea what his uncle was like so he had no idea what effect Hagrid's threat about Draco's father had had on his cousin.

'Right then,' said Hagrid, 'now, listen carefully, 'cause it's dangerous what we're gonna do tonight an' I don't want no one takin' risks. Follow me over here a moment.'

'If it's something dangerous that needs doing, why are you trusting first year students with it?' Azriel asked. 'I mean, surely if you're going to use student aid at all you'd take an upper year level student.'

'Tha' wasn't fer me to decide,' said Hagrid, gruffly. 'McGonagall gave yeh to me fer this.'

'Then I'd have thought she of all people would have much better judgement,' Azriel muttered darkly, but Hagrid didn't seem to notice. Azriel reached out with his telepathy for Alex.

'You still awake?' Azriel thought. The reply came a moment later.

_Yeah. How goes the detention?_

'It's been the highlight of my day,' Azriel thought dryly, looking over at the other students who looked pale even without the moonlight on their faces.

_Why, what are you up to?_

'Hagrid's taking us into the forbidden forest.'

_What? Why?_

'I don't know yet, we've only just been told. Draco wants out, but Hagrid threatened him, something to do with our uncle. That put Draco back in his place.'

_And the others?_

'Not looking forward to it any more than I am. Though I don't suppose anyone would. There's supposed to be dangerous creatures in the forest, and it sounds like no place for a first year student at any time and under any circumstances.'

_Agreed. You'll tell me more about it after you get out? I get the feeling the magic in the forest will dampen our connection._

'I promise, I'll tell you everything.' Azriel turned his attention back to Hagrid and the others. Their short walk was now over and they were standing by the edge of the forest.

Holding his lamp up high, Hagrid pointed down a narrow, winding earth track that disappeared into the thick black trees. A light breeze lifted their hair as they looked into the forest.

'Look there,' said Hagrid, 'see that stuff shinin' on the ground? Silvery stuff?'

Azriel took a good look at it, and he gasped once he recognised what it was. His eyes widened and he looked up to Hagrid with shock on his face.

'Unicorn blood!' Azriel hissed. Hagrid nodded gravely while the others stared at him.

'There's a unicorn in there bin hurt badly by summat. This is the second time in a week.'

'_Two_ of them?' Azriel asked, incredulous. This was not good at all.

'I found one dead last Wednesday,' Hagrid continued. 'We're gonna try an' find the poor thing. We might have ter put it out of its misery.'

'And what if whatever hurt the unicorn finds us first?' said Draco, unable to keep the fear out of his voice, although he made a solid attempt.

'There's nothin' that lives in the forest that'll hurt yeh if yer with me or Fang,' said Hagrid.

'Or me,' Azriel said, revealing his daggers. Hagrid briefly showed surprised but then he scowled at the boy, but he made no move to remove them from Azriel's grasp. Draco was staring at the daggers with something akin to fear in his eyes. The others just eyed the things warily, having already been acquainted with them.

'What d'yeh think yer doin' with those? Yer jus' a student'

'They were a present from my dad. Alex has a pair as well. We've had them on us all year; we hadn't needed them but we like having them around. It's just as well I decided to carry them on me tonight.'

'Yeh honestly think you'll be able ter defend yerself agains' things in the forest with those?'

'No,' Azriel said, holstering the daggers again. 'I don't know _what_ is in the forest, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to have these on hand. Besides, I've always got another form of protection before I even need to go for my wand.'

Azriel was, of course, referring to his Gift. Hagrid got the reference, and nodded.

'I don' want yeh to harm anythin' in the forest with those, yeh hear me?' Hagrid said sternly.

'I don't want to have to,' Azriel replied. 'Besides, they're just a precaution. Like I said, I hope I won't be needing them, but since we're going into the forest they might come in useful.'

'Righ' then,' said Hagrid with distrust. 'Keep ter the path. We're gonna split inter two parties an' follow the trail in diff'rent directions. There's blood all over the place, it must've been staggerin' around since last night at least.'

'I want Fang,' said Draco quickly, looking at Fang's long teeth.

'All right, but I warn yeh, he's a coward,' said Hagrid. 'So me, Harry an' Hermione'll go one way an' Draco, Neville, Azriel an' Fang'll go the other way.'

'I can take care of myself,' Azriel said.

'Per'aps yeh can,' agreed Hagrid, 'bu' yer still a firs' year an' yer still in me care, so I'm not takin' any chances.'

Azriel glared briefly at the half-giant but nodded.

'Now, if any of us finds the unicorn, we'll send up green sparks, right? Get yer wands out an' practise now – that's it – an' if anyone gets in trouble, send up red sparks, an' we'll come an' find yeh – so, be careful – let's go.'

Azriel took the moment to contact Alex one last time before they entered the forest.

_Know what you're doing yet?_ Alex's response was quick.

'We're going into the forest now,' Azriel thought, 'following a trail of unicorn blood.'

_Unicorn blood?_

'Yes,' Azriel thought grimly. 'There's been one killed already, and another one injured. We're trying to find the injured one.'

_Yikes._

'Agreed,' Azriel thought. 'Talk to you later, we're going in.'

Azriel followed behind Draco and Fang with Neville trailing behind him as they stepped into the forest. He tried to shake off the bad feeling he got as his connection with Alex was weakened; he didn't like the feeling of being alone.H


	12. Chapter 11: Into The Woods

**A/N:** I think this is my favourite chapter of the story, this is a pivotal turning point in the relationship between my characters and the Golden Trio. I couldn't have them at constant odds forever!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

* * *

**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 11: Into The Woods

The forest was black and silent. Azriel's fingers twitched over the pommels of his daggers as he walked; he kept alert and looked around cautiously for any sign of danger, already overly tense from the weakening of his connection with Alex. A little way into the thick gathering of trees they reached a fork in the earth path; and Potter, Bookworm and Hagrid took the left path while Azriel and the others took the right.

They walked in silence, their eyes on the ground. Every now and then a ray of moonlight through the branches above lit a spot of silver-blue blood on the fallen leaves.

Azriel noted that Draco and Neville looked very pale, and Neville was shivering. Fang kept up a slow pace, sniffing at the blood spots to try and get a scent. Azriel himself couldn't suppress the chill running through his veins at the thought of what they were sent to look for.

'C-could a were-w-wolf be killing the u-unicorns?' Neville stuttered, reminding Azriel disturbingly of Professor Quirrell. Azriel shook his head.

'Werewolves aren't fast enough, it couldn't have been a werewolf unless the unicorn was already injured,' he said. 'It's not easy to catch a unicorn though, let alone kill one. They're very powerful and resilient creatures. I've never known one to be hurt back at home; any reports of such would have gone through the American Ministry of Magic, and I would have heard of them through my dad. And nothing of the sort has come up.'

They walked past a mossy tree-stump. Azriel could hear running water; there must be a stream somewhere close by. So far, the trail had gone straight, so Azriel wondered if Potter and the others were going in the opposite direction along the same stream. There were still spots of unicorn blood here and there along the path, which was beginning to wind. Neville was starting to look faintly green.

'You all right, Neville?' Azriel asked, concerned. 'Keep it together now; we should be done fairly quickly. The unicorn won't have gotten too far if it's as badly hurt as Hagrid said it was, and we'll be able to – LOOK OUT!'

Azriel seized Draco and Neville and dragged them off the path behind a towering oak. Fang yelped and followed them. Azriel pulled out his daggers and looked out from behind the tree, ready to strike once whatever it was showed itself. They listened. Something was slithering over dead leaves nearby: it sounded like a cloak trailing along the ground.

Azriel tried to see something in the distance but it was too dark to see beyond a few feet. After a few seconds, the sound faded away. Azriel stepped back onto the path, looking around cautiously.

'Someone else is in the forest,' Azriel said gravely, 'someone who's shouldn't be here.' He looked over at Draco and Neville, who were tentatively rejoining Azriel on the path. Fang trailed behind.

'Who do you think it could be?' Draco whispered, ignoring exactly who was his present company. Azriel had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly who it was, but he kept silent, instead shaking his head. He got Fang back on the blood trail and they resumed walking.

They paused again when they heard the sound of hooves. Neville was afraid there might be wild horses running through the forest, but Azriel didn't think there would be horses awake at this time of night, especially in this type of environment.

They could see shadowy shapes however; one got close enough for them to see that the things were, in fact, centaurs. The creatures didn't even notice the small group as they went past.

'Where are they off to?' Azriel wondered out loud. The only response he got was from Neville who screamed. Azriel whirled around to find the other Gryffindor stumbling backwards in a panic – and then he saw why.

A wolf had found them – a real wolf. It was vicious; teeth bared and snarling at them. Probably extremely territorial - and it had just found trespassers on its land. Even Fang was trying to get away. The wolf leapt at Neville, knocking him over and causing him to drop his wand. Draco was too frightened to move, so Azriel had to act.

He pulled out his daggers and lunged at the wolf; just before the beast was about to take a large bite out of Neville's throat, it saw the flash of the silver daggers and jumped out of the way. The beast howled before changing targets.

Azriel repelled the wolf's attack on him with his telekinesis, slashing at the creature with the dagger in his right hand. The wolf let out a cry of pain when the dagger sliced past its side. The wound was only shallow but it enraged the wolf anyway, and it prepared to renew its attack when it was frightened off by a large horse-like creature leaping over the students' heads.

All Azriel could see was that centaurs had heard the noise and had come investigating. He couldn't see what had been used to drive the wolf away. The centaur turned to face the students. From the waist up, it was a man with red hair and a beard. Below the waist, he had a gleaming chestnut body and a long, reddish tail.

'Foals, what are you doing here in the forest at night?' The centaur asked after a few moments, in a sorrowful tone.

'We're serving detention for Hagrid,' replied Azriel, looking over the centaur, not having seen one up close before. 'There were five of us, so we split up. Hagrid is with the other group, and we're with his dog Fang. I suppose you heard the wolf?'

'Yes, we heard the wolf,' the centaur said. 'It was dangerous of you to attack it like that.'

'I know it was, but I had to do something; that thing was ready to rip us to shreds,' Azriel countered.

'True,' the centaur acquiesced, 'however it is not safe for you to be traversing these woods on your own. Come, we will escort you back to Hagrid.'

Azriel eyed the centaur warily, yet he motioned for the others to follow as the centaur turned around and rejoined the rest of his group. Neville ran after Azriel, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste. Draco was reluctant to follow, but since he wasn't about to be left on his own, he pursued. They walked in tense silence for a couple of minutes.

'Who's there?' Someone called in the distance; it was Hagrid. 'Show yerself – I'm armed!'

They found themselves stepping into a clearing. Potter and Bookworm's jaws dropped at the sight of the centaur.

'Oh, it's you, Ronan,' said Hagrid in relief. 'How are yeh? An' where'd you find this lot?'

'Good evening to you, Hagrid,' said Ronan, in that same sorrowful tone from before. 'I found these foals elsewhere in the forest; they'd been attacked for a wolf, but they are uninjured. Were you going to shoot me?'

'Can't be too careful, Ronan,' said Hagrid in response to the centaur's question, patting his crossbow. 'There's summat bad loose in this forest. This is Harry Potter an' Hermione Granger, by the way. Students up at the school; just like this lot over with you. Azriel Drake, Neville Longbottom an' Draco Malfoy. An' this is Ronan, all o' you. He's a centaur.'

'We'd noticed,' Azriel said dryly.

'Good evening,' said Ronan. 'Students, are you? And do you learn much, up at the school?'

'A bit,' said Bookworm timidly. Trust her to get modest _now_.

'A bit. Well, that's something.' Ronan sighed. He flung back his head and stared at the sky. 'Mars is bright tonight.'

'Yeah,' said Hagrid, glancing up too. Azriel wondered how the hell the centaur could say that; he'd be surprised if you could see anything through all the thick foliage of the forest's trees.

'Listen, I'm glad we've run inter yeh, Ronan, 'cause there's a unicorn bin hurt – you seen anythin'?' Hagrid said, looking back at the Centaur.

Ronan didn't answer immediately. He stared unblinkingly upwards, then sighed again.

'Always the innocent are the first victims,' he said. 'So it has been for ages past, so it is now.'

'What does that even mean?' Azriel muttered to no-one in particular. Ronan didn't appear to have heard this, for he did not respond.

'Yeah,' said Hagrid, 'but have yeh seen anythin', Ronan? Anythin' unusual?'

'Mars is bright tonight,' Ronan repeated while Hagrid watched him impatiently. 'Unusually bright.'

'We know; you said that already,' Azriel said. 'Something unusual a little closer to home, perhaps?'

Yet again, Ronan took a while to answer. At last, he said, 'The forest hides many secrets.'

'I'm sure it does, but how is that useful to us right now?' Azriel muttered darkly. Hagrid glared at him, but Ronan didn't appear to have heard the boy once again.

A movement in the trees behind Ronan made Hagrid raise his bow again, and Azriel instinctively reached for his daggers, but it was only a second centaur, black-haired and bodied and wilder looking than Ronan.

'Hullo, Bane,' said Hagrid. 'All right?'

'Good evening, Hagrid, I hope you are well?'

'Well enough. Look, I've jus' bin askin' Ronan, you seen anythin' odd in here lately? Only there's a unicorn bin injured – would yeh know anythin' about it?'

Bane walked over to stand next to Ronan. He looked skywards.

'Mars is bright tonight,' he said simply.

'So we've heard already,' Azriel rolled his eyes. 'That doesn't help us find this unicorn though.'

'Well, if either of you do see anythin', let me know, won't yeh?' Hagrid said. 'We'll be off, then.'

Hagrid led Potter and Bookworm out of the clearing as the two centaurs trotted off elsewhere into the forest. Azriel looked over at Draco and Neville.

'Okay, where should we go now?' he asked the two of them. Draco pointed down another earth path. Azriel nodded and they walked off. Azriel made sure Fang was taking the lead.

'Those centaurs weren't too helpful,' Draco said.

'Of course not,' said Azriel gruffly. 'Never try getting a straight answer out of one; they're a bunch of stargazers. They barely have a clue what's going on around them at ground level. The closest thing of interest to them is the moon!'

'D'you think there's many of them in here?' Neville said quietly.

'There's bound to be more than just Ronan and Bane,' Azriel replied. 'You saw how many of them passed us by back there; there had to have been at least a dozen that we could see.'

'That wasn't a centaur we heard earlier, was it?' Draco asked this time.

'Unless one of them is in the habit of wearing an extra large cloak,' Azriel said sarcastically, 'I would say no. It had to have been someone human. I can't think of anyone crazy enough to be in the forest at any time, especially at night.'

They walked on through the dense, dark trees. Neville kept looking nervously over his shoulder. Azriel couldn't blame him; he had the nasty feeling they were being watched by something hidden just beyond their view in the nearby trees. They had just passed a bend in the path when Neville cried out again. Azriel whirled around to see Neville shooting up red sparks. Draco was looking pleased with himself.

'Draco, what did you do? You can't scare Neville like that, this is serious business!' He snapped angrily.

'Calm down, Drake. Nothing happened. It was just a joke.' Some of Draco's swagger had returned.

'Well, it's not funny and you have no idea what else you could have alerted to our presence. For all we know, you've just given our position away to the person who hurt the unicorn.'

Draco paled a little, having been put back in his place. They heard a twig snap somewhere in the distance and Azriel froze for a second, listening hard for another noise to alert them to the direction the noise came from, and where it was headed.

Hagrid emerged in the clearing a minute later, looking slightly panicked. He looked among the small group, gasping, 'What's happened?'

'Nothing,' Azriel scowled. 'Except Draco's being an idiot. He thought it'd be fun to give Neville a fright. We're just lucky you turned up before something else did.' Azriel glared at his cousin, who was starting to look uncomfortable. Neville stood just a way off, wheezing as he tried to get his nerves back under control.

'Are yeh daft, Malfoy? Yeh know there's dangerous things in the forest. Yeh can't just fool around like that, especially at nigh'.' Hagrid fumed. 'Now come on, I'm takin' yeh back ter the others.'

Neville was quick to join Hagrid, as was Fang. Azriel had to give his cousin a hard nudge in order to get him to follow. He glared at Draco as they walked. When they got back, Hagrid explained to Potter and Bookworm what had happened and why he was upset.

'We'll be lucky ter catch anythin' now, with the racket you two were makin',' Hagrid said with a glare directed at Malfoy. 'Right, we're changin' groups – Neville, you stay with me an' Hermione. Harry, you go with Azriel, Fang an' this idiot.'

Draco looked appalled at being called an idiot by the half-giant, but Azriel ignored this as Hagrid was whispering something to Potter and he was trying to overhear.

'I'm sorry,' Hagrid was whispering, 'but he'll have a harder time frightenin' you, an' we've gotta get this done.'

So Potter set off into the heart of the forest with Draco, Azriel and Fang. They walked for nearly half an hour, deeper and deeper into the forest, until the path became almost impossible to follow because the trees were so thick.

'Hold up, guys,' said Azriel, noticing something on the edge of his vision. He held up his hand as a motion for them to stop. Azriel walked over to a few splashes of silver blood on the roots of a tree. He crouched down to examine it.

'It looks like the blood spots are getting thicker,' he said, looking up at the others, who were also peering down at the splatter he had found. 'It must mean we're getting closer.'

The pattern of the blood spots suggested that the unicorn had been thrashing around in pain close by. Potter pointed out a clearing ahead, through the tangled branches of an ancient oak tree. Azriel got up, and he, Draco and Fang followed Potter toward it.

'Look –' Potter murmured, holding out his arm to stop Draco. Azriel stopped as well and looked at where Potter was looking at. Something bright white was gleaming on the ground. They inched closer.

'Oh my god,' Azriel muttered, covering his mouth in shock and revulsion at the sight. It was the unicorn all right, and it was dead. Its long slender legs were stuck out at odd angles where it had fallen and its mane was spread pearly-white on the dark leaves. It was almost a beautiful sight and Azriel felt sick with anger that someone had tarnished that beauty.

Potter had taken one step towards it when a slithering sound made him freeze where he stood. A bush on the edge of the clearing quivered ... Then, out of the shadows, a hooded figure came crawling across the ground like some stalking beast. Potter, Draco, Azriel and Fang stood transfixed. The cloaked figure reached the unicorn, it lowered its head over the wound in the animal's side, and began to drink his blood. Azriel was horrified at the sight.

'AAAAAAAAAAARGH!'

Draco let out a terrible scream and bolted – so did Fang. The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at the two figures left – Potter and Azriel – unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly towards them – Potter couldn't move for fear.

Azriel, meanwhile, whipped out his daggers as the figure charged them; he stepped back in alarm, but he lost his balance in his haste, falling backwards as the figure rushed past him. He propelled himself back up and turned around to follow the figure which had almost reached Potter – who for some reason looked crippled with pain – when a horse-like figure vaulted over Potter's head to ward off the figure, who darted off into the trees elsewhere. Azriel didn't pursue it, putting his daggers away to approach Potter.

Potter had fallen to his knees; Azriel tried to help him up but Potter stayed down, so Azriel turned his attention to the newcomer. It was another centaur; this one looked younger, and he had white-blond hair not dissimilar to Azriel's own, and a palomino body.

'Are you all right?' said the centaur, pulling Potter to his feet. He must have been a little better now.

'Yes – thank you,' Potter gasped.

'What _was_ that?' Azriel asked, looking around the clearing for a sign that the figure was returning. The centaur didn't answer. He had astonishingly blue eyes, like pale sapphires, which Azriel noticed when he turned his attention back to the centaur before him. The centaur looked carefully at the two boys, his eyes lingering on the scar which stood out, livid, on Potter's forehead.

'You are the Potter boy,' he said, 'and you are one of the Drakes.'

Azriel shared glances with Potter. How could this centaur, that they had never met, know their names?

'You had better get back to Hagrid. The forest is not safe at this time – especially for you. Can you ride? It will be quicker this way.'

'Can you handle two of us?' Azriel asked. The centaur nodded.

'My name is Firenze, by the way,' the centaur added, as he lowered himself on to his front legs so that Potter and Azriel could clamber onto his back.

There was suddenly a sound of more galloping from the other side of the clearing. Azriel reached for his daggers again when Ronan and Bane came bursting through the trees, their flanks heaving and sweaty.

'Firenze!' Bane thundered. 'What are you doing? You have _two_ humans on your back! Have you no shame? Are you a common mule?'

'Do you realise who these are?' said Firenze. 'This is the Potter boy, and this is a Drake. The quicker they leave this forest, the better.'

'What have you been telling them?' growled Bane. 'Remember, Firenze, we are sworn not to set ourselves against the heavens. Have we not read what is to come in the movements of the planets?'

'Firenze only just got here; he hasn't had the chance to tell us anything at all, planets or otherwise,' Azriel said, watching the centaur warily and knowing that Bane didn't quite believe him. Ronan pawed the ground nervously.

'I'm sure Firenze thought he was acting for the best,' he said, in his gloomy voice. Bane kicked his legs back in anger.

'For the best! What is that to do with us? Centaurs are concerned with what has been foretold! It is not our business to run around like donkeys after stray humans in our forest!'

Firenze suddenly reared on to his hind legs in anger, so that Potter had to grab onto his shoulders to stay on. Azriel let himself fall back onto the forest floor, walking round to stand beside Firenze.

'I'm not sure if you noticed,' Azriel said, 'but there's a dead unicorn here. I'm sure that must count for something in whatever the 'planets' told you.'

'The boy is right,' Firenze bellowed at Bane. 'Do you not understand why this unicorn was killed? Or have the planets not let you in on that secret? I set myself against what is lurking in this forest, Bane, yes, with humans alongside me if I must.'

Firenze knelt down to let Azriel back on; when he was secure, the centaur whisked around and plunged off into the trees, leaving Ronan and Bane behind. Potter was clutching onto Firenze as best he could, while Azriel had a secure grip on Potter.

Potter didn't have a clue what was going on, because he asked, 'Why's Bane so angry? What was that thing you saved us from, anyway?'

Firenze slowed to a walk, warning the boys to keep their heads bowed in case of low-hanging branches but did not answer Potter's question. They made their way through the trees in silence for so long that Azriel thought Firenze didn't want to talk to them anymore because of Potter's question. They were passing through a particularly dense patch of trees, however, when Firenze suddenly stopped.

'Harry Potter, Azriel Drake, do you know what unicorn blood is used for?'

'No,' said Potter, startled by the question. 'We've only used the horn and tail-hair in Potions.'

'That is because it's a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn,' said Firenze. 'Only one who has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, would commit such a crime.'

'Because it keeps you alive,' Azriel said quietly, looking down at the ground. Potter twisted around to look at the other boy. 'Even if you're an inch from death, it'll keep you alive.'

'Yes, but it costs a terrible price,' said Firenze, nodding his head. 'You have slain something pure and defenceless to save yourself and you will have but a half life, a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.'

Potter was staring at the back of Firenze's head, which was dappled silver in the moonlight. Well at least he had a better understanding of why it was such a terrible crime to kill a unicorn, Azriel thought.

'But who'd be that desperate?' Potter wondered aloud. 'If you're going to be cursed for ever, death's better, isn't it?'

'It is,' Firenze agreed, 'unless all you need is to stay alive long enough to drink something else – something that will bring you back to full strength and powers – something that will mean you can never die.'

Azriel was caught off guard by the centaur's comments. He was clearly referring to the elixir of life, which could only mean he was talking about the Stone.

'Mr Potter, Mr Drake, do you two know what is hidden in the school at this very moment?'

Potter was silent; Azriel could judge from his face that he really didn't want to say because he thought Azriel didn't know, so Azriel was the one to speak up.

'The Philosopher's Stone,' Azriel spoke up. 'To overcome the curse of the unicorn's blood, you'd need to drink the Elixir Of Life which is made from the Stone.'

'How do you know about the Stone?' Potter asked, shocked.

'Bedtime story. You?' Azriel quipped, raising his eyebrow and challenging Potter to admit he'd been snooping. Potter ignored this.

'But I don't understand who –'

'Can you think of nobody who has waited many years to return to power, who has clung to life, awaiting their chance?'

'But that's impossible, isn't it?' Azriel said, realising the implication. 'He's long since dead; I mean, we never even heard the stories back home, but from everything I've heard since we came here everyone says he's dead!'

Potter seemed to have been greatly affected by this suggestion, because he looked like he was remembering something.

'Do you mean,' Potter croaked, 'that was _Vol_ –'

'Harry! Harry, are you all right?'

Bookworm was running towards them down the path, Hagrid puffing along behind her.

'I'm fine,' said Potter, hardly knowing what he was saying.

'The unicorn's dead,' Azriel said. 'It's in that clearing back there.' Azriel jerked his head in the direction they'd come from.

'This is where I leave you,' Firenze murmured as Hagrid hurried off to examine the unicorn. 'You are safe now.'

Potter and Azriel slid off Firenze's back; Azriel landed gracefully but Potter was slightly off balance. Out of pure instinct, rather than a newfound sense of comradeship (or so he told himself), Azriel helped Potter steady himself.

'Good luck, Harry Potter, Azriel Drake,' said Firenze. 'The planets have been read wrongly before now, even by centaurs. I hope this is one of those times.'

He turned and cantered back into the depths of the forest, leaving Potter shivering behind him.

Hagrid came back a few moments later, looking like he was near tears at the sight of the unicorn. He silently led them back to his hut where Filch was waiting for them.

The caretaker was exceedingly bitter that all of the first years had come back alive. Azriel hissed at Mrs. Norris to dissuade her from glaring at him as they were dismissed.

Bookworm and Potter had gone on ahead, with Neville chasing after them wanting to get as far from the forest as he could. Draco was walking slowly by himself up to the castle. From where he stood, Azriel noticed that his cousin was still a little pale, and he chased after him.

'Draco!' Azriel called, sprinting toward the Slytherin. 'Are you okay?'

'What do you care, Drake?' Draco sneered, turning to face the other blond.

'I was there, remember?' Azriel said bluntly. 'When you saw that guy with the unicorn, you freaked.'

'What was I supposed to do?' Draco snapped. 'Whatever that was, it wasn't natural! If my father only knew what was going on –'

'If your father knew you'd even been in trouble in the first place,' Azriel reminded. Draco glared at him.

'I don't need comfort. And I certainly don't want your charity,' Draco hissed.

'Good, because you're doing a very bad job of earning it,' Azriel countered, patience already worn thin.

'Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know I needed to _earn_ anything from you.'

'Y'know what? Maybe daddy dearest _should_ find out about your little indiscretion,' Azriel said acidly, 'it'd do wonders for that ego of yours.'

'That's rich, coming from you,' Draco scoffed. 'Strutting around the castle like you're so important.'

'Oh, so I'm a mirror now?' Azriel spat. 'What's the matter, Draco, don't like your own reflection?'

'I could hex you wear you stand,' Draco said venomously. Azriel just laughed coldly.

'Gifted, remember? I could rip your wand from your hand before you even opened your mouth. That, or slam you into the nearest tree. And I wouldn't even have to lift a finger.'

Draco would tell from the dangerous glint in Azriel's eye that the Gryffindor was serious and that we was just as likely to deliver on his threat if pushed far enough.

'You wouldn't want me as an enemy, Draco,' Azriel warned. 'I'd be very careful if I were you, because you're already well on your way.'

Azriel stalked off past Draco back into the castle, trudging back to Gryffindor tower in a terrible mood. He growled the password to the Fat Lady when he reached her portrait, startling her awake; she grumbled as she swung open to let him in.

Red was in the common room when he got inside, probably because he'd been waiting for Potter and Bookworm to return. The others had already arrived; Neville had presumably gone straight to bed, but Potter was frantically telling Red and Bookworm exactly what had transpired in the forest.

Potter couldn't sit still. He paced up and down in front of the fire, unaware that Azriel had just arrived, and diverting the attentions of Red and Bookworm so they didn't notice him either. Potter was still shaking.

'Snape wants the Stone for Voldemort ... and Voldemort's waiting in the forest ... and all this time we thought Snape just wanted to get rich ...'

'Stop saying the name!' said Red in a terrified whisper, as if he thought Voldemort could hear them.

Potter was ignoring him. Still none of them noticed Azriel as he made his way to the stairs leading up to the boys' dormitory.

'Firenze saved us, but he shouldn't have done ... Bane was furious ... he was talking about interfering with what the planets say is going to happen ... They must show that Voldemort's coming back ... Bane thinks Firenze should have let Voldemort kill me ... I suppose that's written in the stars as well.'

'_Will you stop saying the name!_' Red hissed.

'Oh, get over it,' Azriel snapped as he stopped halfway up the stairs, startling the others into realising he was there. 'It's just a name.' Red looked affronted.

'All you have to do is wait for Snape to steal the Stone,' Azriel said darkly as he returned back down, 'then Voldemort will be able to come finish you off. One happy centaur, one evil wizard returned to power, and one dead doornail. Would that satisfy you?'

Red glared at him, but Bookworm looked frightened. She spoke up timidly.

'Everyone says Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who –'

'_- Voldemort –_' Azriel interjected.

'- was ever afraid of,' Bookworm ignored Azriel. 'With Dumbledore around, You-Know-Who won't touch Harry.' Azriel didn't bother to correct her again on Voldemort's name. 'Anyway, who says the centaurs are right? It sounds like fortune-telling to me, and Professor McGonagall says that's a very imprecise branch of magic.'

The sky had turned light before they stopped talking. Since the others were now aware that Azriel knew about the Stone (this was the first thing Potter told them once he reached the common room, apparently), the four compared notes and shared what they'd learned, and Azriel told them how to get past Fluffy, which Bookworm hoped Snape didn't know yet. By now, Azriel figured Snape might have finally worked it out.

They went to bed exhausted, their throats sore. But the night's surprises weren't over. When Potter pulled back his sheets, he found his invisibility cloak folded neatly underneath them. There was note pinned to it:

_Just in case._

'You got it back?' Azriel asked, mildly surprised. Potter stared at him.

'How'd you know about the cloak?' Red asked suspiciously, so Azriel pulled out his own to show them, giving Red a pointed look as he did so.

'How do you think I was out there that night, with the dragon? I followed you,' Azriel replied. 'Well, I was trying to get to Draco first, but McGonagall took care of that.'

'Who gave it back to you?' Red asked Potter. He picked up the note and looked at the other side, looking for same clue to its origin.

'It had to have been a staff member,' Azriel said, 'since it was a confiscated item. I don't know how many staff members would recognise what that was, but I'd hazard a guess that Dumbledore would.'

'So Dumbledore gave it back to me?' Potter asked.

'It's the only explanation I can think of,' Azriel replied. 'Now, we should get some sleep. We still have preparation to do for our exams, and we especially have to keep an eye out for Snape now, to make sure he's not about to go after the Stone.'

'Won't your brother be able to do that?' Potter asked, looking at Azriel.

'Can we trust him?' Red asked gruffly. 'He's a Slytherin, after all.'

'I can assure you, Alex is loyal to his family before his school house,' Azriel said, sick of Red's distrust. 'Besides, he's already been monitoring Snape for ages now. I'm surprised the slime-ball waited this long before he made his move.'

'I don't think we're going to have to wait much longer,' Potter said gravely. Azriel nodded. Since Quirrell had seemingly given in already, and Snape knew how to get past Fluffy (which they assumed he had) there was nothing stopping him from going down there right now – except for maybe Dumbledore.

'Let's get some sleep. We've got exams in a few days, and they'll probably be keeping Snape busy enough for the present that he won't be able to try anything.'

After their incredibly long night, it wasn't difficult for any of them to sleep that morning.


	13. Chapter 12: Running Out Of Time

**A/N:** We're getting to the end of this first story now; only two chapters left after this one. This is I think where we have the biggest drift from canon in this story, since we're now up to the part where they're after the Stone. I got my first review after the last chapter so thank you for that! It's good to see that someone hasn't been too put out by my set-up and has understood where I've been going and what I'm attempting to do with this story. Thank you again!

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

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**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 12: Running Out Of Time

The exams couldn't have flown by any faster. Azriel was wondering how Potter managed to get through them, since he could tell the brunette was currently paranoid to the point where he was half-expecting Voldemort to burst into the room at any second. It was difficult for Azriel to shake the feeling as well that Voldemort was somehow close.

The days continued to pass by, though, and it was a mild comfort to know that Fluffy was still alive and well behind the locked door of the forbidden corridor. It was sweltering hot, especially in the large classroom where they did their written papers. They had been given special, new quills for the exams, which had been bewitched with an Anti-Cheating spell.

They had practical exams as well. Professor Flitwick called them one by one into his class to see if they could make a pineapple tap dance across a desk. Special wards were in place courtesy of the Ministry to disable Azriel's telekinesis so he couldn't use it to cheat. He'd later heard from Alex that the Slytherin experienced the same conditions.

Professor McGonagall watched them turn a mouse into a snuff-box – points were given for how pretty the snuff-box was, but taken away if it had whiskers. Azriel's snuff-box was perfect.

Snape made most of them nervous, breathing down their necks while they tried to remember how to make a Forgetfulness potion. Only four people in the classroom were calm and collected; Bookworm, the Drake twins, and Draco.

Potter seemed to have a lingering pain in his forehead from their encounter with Voldemort in the forest, and it was affecting his concentration from what Azriel could tell. Neville thought he had a bad case of exam nerves because Potter couldn't sleep, but it was something else. Potter wouldn't say what, but it had to have something to do with the forest.

Maybe it was because they hadn't seen what Potter and Azriel had seen in the forest, or because they didn't have scars burning on their foreheads like Potter did, but Red and Bookworm didn't seem as worried about the Stone as Potter and Azriel. The idea of Voldemort certainly scared them, but they were so busy with their revision they didn't have much time to fret about what Snape or anyone else might be up to.

Their very last exam was History of Magic. One hour of answering questions about batty old wizards who'd invented self-stirring cauldrons and they'd be free, free for a whole wonderful week until their exam results came out. When the ghost of Professor Binns told them to put down their quills and roll up their parchment, Potter was cheering with the rest. Azriel kept his celebrations private.

'That was far easier than I thought it would be,' said Bookworm, as they joined the crowds flocking out into the sunny grounds. 'I needn't have learnt about the 1637 Werewolf Code of Conduct or the uprising of Elfric the Eager.'

Bookworm always liked to go through their exam papers afterwards, but Red said this made him feel ill, and Azriel wouldn't allow Bookworm to touch his anyway, so they wandered down to the lake and flopped under a tree. Since Azriel was now on better terms with the trio since they shared a common interest – keeping the Stone safely away from Snape and Voldemort – he joined them. Azriel made sure to keep a safe distance from the water's edge.

The Weasley twins and their friend Lee Jordan were tickling the tentacles of the giant squid, which was basking in the warm shallows. Azriel watched them idly, quietly glad he was keeping his distance.

'No more revision,' Red sighed happily, stretching out on the grass. 'You could look more cheerful, Harry, we've got a week left before we find out how badly we've done, there's no need to worry yet.'

Potter was rubbing his forehead.

'I wish I knew what this _means!_' he burst out angrily. 'My scar keeps hurting – it's happened before, but never as often as this.'

'Go to Madam Pomfrey,' Bookworm suggested.

'I'm not ill,' said Potter. 'I think it's a warning ... it means danger's coming ...'

Red couldn't get worked up, it was too hot.

'Harry, relax, Hermione's right, the Stone is safe as long as Dumbledore's around. Anyway, we've never had any proof Snape found out how to get past Fluffy. He nearly had his leg ripped off once, he's not going to try it again in a hurry. And Neville will play Quidditch for England before Hagrid lets Dumbledore down.'

Azriel resisted the urge to snort at the mental image of Neville holding his own on a broomstick; it was just too amusing. But in the back of his mind, there was a scepticism that sliced through Red's optimistic view of the Stone's safety. It had been a while since Snape had been attacked by Fluffy, and another attempt on it now would actually classify as 'not in a hurry'.

Potter nodded in agreement to Red's statement, but Azriel could sense that he still felt troubled by something, as though there was something he'd forgotten to do. When he tried to explain this, Bookworm said, 'That's just the exams. I woke up last night and was halfway through my Transfiguration notes before I remembered we'd already done that one.'

Azriel watched Potter's face; from his expression, Azriel noted that it didn't seem to be work related. An owl flying overhead with a note clamped in its beak caught his attention, and he watched it for a few moments before it disappeared behind a tree.

Potter suddenly jumped to his feet.

'Where're you going?' said Red, sleepily.

'I've just thought of something,' said Potter. He had gone white, alerting Azriel. 'We've got to go and see Hagrid, now.'

'Why?' Azriel asked sharply, getting up to sprint after him and Bookworm.

'Don't you think it's a bit odd,' said Potter, scrambling up the grassy slope, 'that what Hagrid wants more than anything is a dragon, and a stranger turns up who just happens to have one in his pocket? How many people wander around with dragon eggs if it's against wizard law? Lucky they found Hagrid, don't you think? Why didn't I see it before?'

'What are you on about?' said Red. Azriel shared the sentiment, mind whirring as he tried to decipher Potter's frantic ramblings. Potter didn't provide an answer.

Hagrid was sitting in an armchair outside his house; his trousers and sleeves were rolled up and he was shelling peas into a large bowl.

'Hullo,' he said, smiling. 'Finished yer exams? Got time for a drink?'

'Yes, please,' said Red, but Potter cut across him.'

'No, we're in a hurry, Hagrid, I've got to ask you something. You know that night you won Norbert? What did the stranger you were playing cards with look like?'

'Dunno,' said Hagrid casually, 'he wouldn't take his cloak off.'

He saw Potter, Red and Bookworm look stunned and raised his eyebrows. Azriel was a little way off from the others, thinking about how suspicious this sounded. Accepting a dragon egg from a man you didn't know, and couldn't place an identity to? That was just asking for trouble.

'It's not that unusual, yeh get a lot o' funny folk in the Hog's Head – that's the pub down in the village. Mighta bin a dragon dealer, mightn' he? I never saw his face, he kept his hood up.'

Warning bells were going off in Azriel's head.

'What did you talk to him about, Hagrid? Did you mention Hogwarts at all?' Potter asked.

'Mighta come up,' said Hagrid, frowning as he tried to remember. 'Yeah ... he asked what I did, an' I told him I was the gamekeeper here ... He asked a bit about the sorta creatures I look after ... so I told him ... an' I said what I'd always really wanted was a dragon ... an' then ... I can' remember too well, 'cause he kept buyin' me drinks ...'

It was at that point Azriel felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as the penny began to drop.

'Let's see ...' Hagrid continued, 'yeah, then he said he had the dragon egg an' we could play cards fer it if I wanted ... but he had ter be sure I could handle it, he didn' want it ter go to any old home ... So I told him, after Fluffy, a dragon would be easy ...'

'And did he – did he seem interested in Fluffy?' Potter asked, trying to keep his voice calm. Azriel was already silently cursing Hagrid's sheer stupidity.

'Well – yeah – how many three-headed dogs d'yeh meet, even around Hogwarts? So I told him, Fluffy's a piece o' cake if yeh know how to calm him down, jus' play him a bit o' music an' he'll go straight off ter sleep –'

Hagrid suddenly looked horrified.

'I shouldn'ta told yeh that!' he blurted out. 'Forget I said it!'

'It doesn't matter, we already know,' Azriel spoke up. The others all turned to look at him. 'I know how to handle a Cerberus, I told them.'

The others looked back at Hagrid silently, then ran off. Azriel followed them while Hagrid called out to them, 'Hey – where're yeh goin'?'

The four didn't speak to each other at all until they came to a halt in the entrance hall, which seemed very cold and gloomy after the grounds.

'We've got to go to Dumbledore,' said Potter. 'Hagrid told that stranger how to get past Fluffy and it was either Snape or Voldemort under that cloak – it must've been easy, once he'd got Hagrid drunk. I just hope Dumbledore believes us. Firenze might back us up if Bane doesn't stop him. Where's Dumbledore's office?'

They looked around, as if hoping to see a sign pointing them in the right direction. They had never been told where Dumbledore lived, nor did they know anyone who had been sent to see him. Azriel began to walk off in search of it himself.

'We'll just have to –' Potter began, but a voice suddenly rang out across the hall.

'What are you four doing inside?' It was Professor McGonagall, carrying a large pile of books. Azriel stopped for a second to look at her.

'We want to see Professor Dumbledore,' said Bookworm, rather bravely, Azriel thought.

'See Professor Dumbledore?' Professor McGonagall repeated, as though this was a very fishy thing to want to do. 'Why?'

'It's sort of secret,' Potter said. Azriel rolled his eyes; as if _that_ would work. Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say.

'Professor Dumbledore left ten minutes ago,' she said coldly. Azriel stopped dead in his tracks. 'He received an urgent owl from the Ministry of Magic and flew off for London at once.' Azriel came running back to the others.

'Dumbledore's gone?' Azriel hissed frantically. '_Now?_'

'Professor Dumbledore is a great wizard, Drake, he has many demands on his time –'

'But this is important,' Potter said.

'Something you have to say is more important than the Ministry of Magic, Potter?'

'Of course it is,' Azriel snapped. 'It's about the Philosopher's Stone.'

Whatever Professor McGonagall had expected, it wasn't that. The books she was carrying tumbled out of her hands but she didn't pick them up.

'How do you know –' she spluttered.

'How is not important right now. What _is_ important is that the stone is now in danger and someone is preparing to make an attempt to steal it,' Azriel said.

She eyed the group with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

'Professor Dumbledore will be back tomorrow,' she said finally. 'I don't know how you found out about the Stone, but rest assured, no one can possibly steal it, it's too well protected.

'But Professor –'

'Drake, I know what I'm talking about,' she said shortly. She bent down and gathered up the fallen books. 'I suggest you all go back outside and enjoy the sunshine.' But they didn't.

'It's tonight,' Azriel said hollowly, once they were sure Professor McGonagall was out of earshot. 'Snape's going through the trapdoor tonight. He's found out everything he needs and now he's got Dumbledore out of the way. He sent that note, I bet the Ministry of Magic will get a real shock when Dumbledore turns up.'

'But what can we –'

Bookworm gasped. The others wheeled around. Snape was standing right there.

'Good afternoon,' he said smoothly. They stared at him. 'You shouldn't be inside on a day like this,' he said, with an odd, twisted smile.

'We were –' Potter began, without any idea of what he was going to say.

'You want to be more careful,' said Snape. 'Hanging around like this, people will think you're up to something. And Gryffindor really can't afford to lose any more points, can they?'

Potter flushed. Azriel was fighting the temptation to pull his daggers on the professor. The others turned to go back outside, but Snape called them back.

'Be warned, Potter – any more night-time wanderings and I will personally make sure you are expelled. Good day to you.' He strode off in the direction of the staff room. Azriel tried to glare a hole in his back as he retreated.

Out on the stone steps, Potter turned to the others.

'Right, here's what we've got to do,' he whispered urgently. 'One of us has got to keep an eye on Snape – wait outside the staff room and follow him if he leaves it. Hermione, you'd better do that.'

'Why me?'

'It's obvious,' said Red. 'You can pretend to be waiting for Professor Flitwick, you know.' He put on a high voice. 'Oh Professor Flitwick, I'm so worried, I think I got question fourteen b wrong ...'

'Oh, shut up,' said Bookworm, but she agreed to go and watch out for Snape.

'And we'd better stay outside the third floor corridor,' Potter told Red. 'Come on.'

But that part of the plan didn't seem to work; Azriel had gone back to the Gryffindor common room, but before long Potter and Red arrived.

'What happened?' Azriel asked, sharply. Red grimaced.

'McGonagall was there,' Potter said. 'At least Hermione's on Snape's tail.' No sooner had he said that, but Bookworm too was stepping through the portrait.

'I'm sorry, Harry!' she wailed. 'Snape came out and asked me what I was doing, so I said I was waiting for Flitwick, and Snape went to get him, and I've only just got away. I don't know where Snape went.'

'Well, that's it then, isn't it?' Azriel said bitterly. The others turned to look at him. 'The path is clear for Snape now, and there's nothing we can do about it.' Azriel laughed humourlessly, and began pacing the room.

'Alex!' Azriel thought, not realising in his temper he was also speaking his thoughts. 'Where are you right now?'

_On my way from the library; I've just been returning some books. Why?_

'I'm in Gryffindor Tower. How soon can you get here?'

_I have to return books –_

'I don't care, Alex, just get here now!' Azriel was beginning to raise his voice, and the others just stared at him wondering what on earth he was doing. He didn't notice.

_Alright, I'll be there in a couple of minutes._

'Good. When you get to the portrait, the password is Lexus Majoris.'

'What on earth was that?' Red asked. Azriel stopped when he realised he'd been broadcasting his half of the telepathic conversation out loud.

'That's not important right now,' Azriel said gruffly, but he was unable to completely mask a wince. 'What is important is what we do now about the Stone.'

The portrait opened a minute later and Alex stepped inside.

'Azriel, what's going –' Alex spotted the other Gryffindors in the room and unconsciously stepped back, '- on?'

'What's he doing in here? He's a Slytherin!' Red spat.

'How did he know the password?' Potter asked. Bookworm figured it out quickly.

'You have telepathy, don't you?' she said quietly. Azriel stared at her; that was meant to be a secret. 'You have telepathy, and you were talking to your brother with your mind.'

'Too smart for your own good,' Alex said flatly. 'Yes, we have telepathy. It's a side effect of the Gift, since we're identical twins.'

'Anyway,' Azriel cut in, 'there's something I called you here for to tell you, Alex. Snape has clear passage to get to the Stone now. Dumbledore's gone, and we can't be seen around the third floor now because Snape and McGonagall will probably get us expelled if we're found anywhere near there.'

'So basically, we're screwed?' Alex asked.

'No, we're not,' Potter spoke up. All eyes turned to him. He was pale and his eyes were glittering.

'I'm going out of here tonight and I'm going to try and get to the Stone first.' The Drake brothers shared looks of disbelief.

'You're mad!' said Red.

'You can't!' said Bookworm. 'After what McGonagall and Snape have said? You'll be expelled!'

'SO WHAT?' Potter shouted. 'Don't you understand? If Snape gets hold of the Stone, Voldemort's coming back! Haven't you heard what it was like when he was trying to take over? There won't be any Hogwarts left to be expelled from! He'll flatten it, or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts! Losing points doesn't matter any more, can't you see? D'you think he'll leave you and your families alone if Gryffindor win the house cup? If I get caught before I can get to the Stone, well, I'll have to go back to the Dursleys and wait for Voldemort to find me there. It's only dying a bit later than I would have done, because I'm never going over to the Dark Side! I'm going through that trapdoor tonight and nothing you two say is going to stop me! Voldemort killed my parents, remember?'

He glared at them. The Drake twins hid their shock at his outburst and returned the glare just as strongly.

'You're right, Harry,' said Bookworm in a small voice.

'I'll use the invisibility cloak,' said Potter. 'It's just lucky I got it back.'

'But will it cover all five of us?' said Red.

'All – all five of us?'

'No, not all five of us,' Alex said. 'Azriel and I each have our own invisibility cloaks.'

'Remember?' Azriel added. 'I had mine with me that night you went to send Norbert off.'

'Come off it, Harry, you don't think we'd let you go alone?' Red said.

'Of course not,' said Bookworm briskly. 'How do you think you'd get to the Stone without us? I'd better go and look through my books, there might be something useful ...'

'But if we get caught, you'll all get expelled too.'

'Not if I can help it,' said Bookworm grimly. 'Flitwick told me in secret that I got a hundred and twelve percent on his exam. They're not throwing me out after that.'

She and the others retreated into the dormitories, leaving the Drake brothers alone in the common room.

'A hundred and twelve percent?' Alex quirked an eyebrow. 'He told _me_ I'd gotten a hundred and fourteen.'

'Same,' Azriel replied, with a barely concealed chuckle. The light atmosphere didn't last.

'I think we're gonna have to make a break for the Stone now,' Alex said seriously. Azriel nodded.

'You're right. They don't have our skills. They don't have our weapons –' Azriel unsheathed his daggers to demonstrate his point, '- and they certainly don't have our Gift.' He floated the daggers above his outstretched hands before plucking them from the air and returning them to their holsters.

'They won't stand a chance against Snape or Voldemort,' Alex said, 'but with these things at our disposal, _we_ just might.'

The others came back down the stairs, arms full of books.

'Are you going to help us research?' Bookworm asked. Azriel shook his head.

'We've got something we need to do,' he said. Bookworm nodded absently, already becoming too absorbed in her work as she opened the first book.

The brothers knew dinner would be soon, and they were expecting that Snape would be there. They were not planning on being at dinner themselves, figuring that Snape would have to appear there to remain inconspicuous. With that in mind, they decided it would be the perfect time to go down there while everyone else was busy.

Azriel grabbed his invisibility cloak from his dorm room; they didn't want to waste time going all the way down to the dungeons just to retrieve Alex's cloak too, so they decided they would just have to share the one cloak.

What they hadn't counted on was encountering Neville on their way to the third floor; they ran into him near the Great Staircase.

'Where are you going? It's almost dinner time, you should be going to the Great Hall.' Neville said.

'Not now, we're busy,' Alex said. Neville followed them.

'No, you can't go wandering off! We've already gotten into enough trouble this year, and if McGonagall catches us –'

'Us? There is no 'us'. Go to dinner Neville, you don't need to concern yourself with this,' Azriel said, pushing past Neville.

'NO!' Neville insisted, cutting in front of the blond again. 'I can't let you get Gryffindor into more trouble!'

'You don't understand,' Alex snapped, 'this is important.'

Neville was gearing himself up to do something desperate.

'I won't let you get into any more trouble. I'll – I'll fight you!'

'_Neville!_' Azriel barked. 'You're up against _two_ wizards with weapons and powers that you don't stand a chance against. Now get out of our way and don't make a fool of yourself.'

'Don't you call me a fool!' said Neville. 'I don't think you should be breaking more rules! You know, Harry and Ron told me to stand up to people!'

'I'm sure we apply to that rule,' Azriel said, rolling his eyes, 'but if we wanted to, we could still brush you aside like nothing. You know better.'

'Go on, just you try it!' Neville said, trying for defiant.

Azriel pointed jerkily at Neville with two fingers, and with a roll of his wrist, he flicked his fingers up toward the ceiling. Neville rose into the air with a shout.

'You knew we could do this, and we told you we would,' Azriel said. 'Now I'm sorry, I _really_ am, but we really don't have time to waste so you're just gonna have to hang out here for a little while.'

Neville called after them as they walked away, begging to be let down. Azriel stopped once they reached the end of the corridor, turned around, and gently let Neville down before hurrying after his brother. Neville was unsteady on his feet upon landing and couldn't make any moves to pursue the twins before he'd lost them.

'Was that really necessary?' Alex asked, as his brother caught up.

'Yes. I'll regret it later, but I needed to prove a point, and you know we don't have the time to be dealing with any roadblocks.' Azriel replied. 'Now, we should probably put on the cloak before we run into anyone else.'

Alex agreed, so Azriel draped the cloak over his brother's head and got under it himself. They made sure it was securely on them and they were completely invisible before proceeding.

It was probably a good idea they were under the cloak, because Neville would probably go running after McGonagall or someone to report them. It would have been even worse if they'd done something like performing the full-body bind on them, but they weren't to know that later that night, in their own attempt to get to the Stone, Bookworm and the others would apply exactly that technique to get past the unintentional hindrance.

They found Mrs. Norris at the top of a flight of stairs. Azriel looked around cautiously for Filch, but did not spot him anywhere. Alex was eyeing the cat warily. Just because she couldn't see them, doesn't mean she couldn't somehow sense that they were there. They were careful to tread silently past her, because she hadn't seemed to take any notice of them.

'I bet anyone else in our position would love to kick that thing right now,' Alex muttered.

'That's one fail-safe way to land detention with Filch,' Azriel replied dryly. 'It hardly seems worth the trouble.' Azriel thought he could feel the cat's eyes on them as they passed, but Mrs. Norris still did nothing to even indicate awareness of any presence other than herself.

They didn't meet anyone else until they reached the staircase down to the third floor. Peeves was bobbing halfway up, loosening the carpet so that people would trip.

'Who's there?' he said suddenly as they walked towards him. He narrowed his wicked black eyes. 'Know you're there, even if I can't see you. Are you ghoulie or ghostie or wee student beastie'

He rose up in the air and floated there, squinting at them.

'Should call Filch, I should, if something's a-creeping around unseen.' Azriel had a wild idea; he broadcast it telepathically.

'How's your Bloody Baron impersonation?' he asked.

'Pretty good. You want me to use it and trick Peeves?' Alex thought back. Azriel nodded.

'Peeves,' Alex said, in a hoarse whisper, 'the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible at any given time.'

It worked like a charm; Peeves almost fell out of the air in shock. He caught himself in time and hovered about a foot above the steps.

'So sorry, your bloodiness, Mr Baron, sir,' he said greasily, 'My mistake, my mistake – I didn't see you – of course I didn't, you're invisible – forgive old Peevsie his little joke, sir.'

'I have business here, Peeves,' croaked Alex. 'Stay away from this place tonight.'

'I will, sir, I most certainly will,' said Peeves, rising up in the air again. 'Hope your business goes well, Baron, I'll not bother you.' And he scooted off.

'He bothers me just by being here,' Azriel muttered darkly once the spectre was gone. 'How has he lasted here all year?' Alex shrugged, and they continued on.

About a minute later, they were standing outside the door to the third floor corridor. They removed the cloak.

'Let's see if we can find anywhere nearby to stash this thing,' Azriel said. 'I'm not taking it down that trapdoor with us, anti-wear spells or not, and obviously it's too valuable to leave lying around.'

Alex found a secret compartment just down the hall from the door; the trigger to open it was the arm of a suit of armour, which acted like a lever. They stashed the cloak away and returned to the door.

'It'll probably have been locked again,' Alex said. He pulled out his wand and muttered, 'Alohomora!' The lock clicked open. The noise must have alerted Fluffy because he started to growl menacingly, and probably getting ready to pounce on whoever was on the other side of the door.

Azriel opened the door and stepped back from the doorframe; the Cerberus lunged at them but because of the chains keeping it back, it could not reach them. It stood as far forward as it could, however, ready to strike when they finally decided to step inside.

'We're gonna have to push it back,' Azriel said. 'If we put it to sleep now, we won't be able to get to the trapdoor.' Alex nodded.

The twins stood in front of Fluffy side by side; they grasped each other's hands – Azriel's right in Alex's left – and lifted their other hands, palms out toward Fluffy.

Combining their power, they forced the Cerberus to step back; it yelped in surprise, but the twins were so focused on their task they didn't even blink at the possibility that someone might have overheard. Of course, by now it would be expected that everyone was safely at dinner.

With Fluffy now out of the way of the trapdoor, the twins stepped inside, continuing to hold back the Cerberus, knowing that as soon as they broke their hold the beast would be upon them again, and their daggers wouldn't be enough to protect them.

Azriel was the first to begin humming; there was no real melody to the notes that he was humming, but Alex joined in a moment later, doing his best to harmonise with his brother in an imitation of music.

The humming had the desired effect, as they could see Fluffy's eyelids begin to get heavy on all three heads. The Cerberus tried to shake itself into alertness but the sound of the twins' humming was slowly and surely getting the better of it, and it began to teeter on its feet, half-collapsing onto the floor as it finally succumbed to the musically-induced sleep.

They did not break their humming as Alex pulled the trapdoor open with his powers. Azriel walked toward the trapdoor and looked down. Alex continued to hum to Fluffy, but Azriel stopped and peered down into the hole.

'I wonder how far down the rabbit hole goes,' he muttered dryly, peering down into blackness. The depth of the hole was indeterminate; there was no way of knowing just by looking what was down there or how far down it was, or how to even get down safely.

'Alex, come and have a look at this!' Azriel said. Alex kept humming, but he walked over and looked down.

'I don't know what we're going to find down there, or if we're even gonna get down there in one piece.' Alex stopped humming in order to speak.

'We're gonna have to take that chance; it shouldn't be too bad because otherwise no one would be getting to it at all, and all the other protections in place would be unnecessary, because a drop that far would probably be instant death.'

Azriel took up the humming once Alex began to speak, because Fluffy was beginning to growl again in that few seconds without music.

'You've got a point there,' Azriel agreed, switching humming duty back to Alex. 'I'm going down first.'

'You sure?' Alex half-sang, glancing warily at Fluffy. Azriel nodded. He took a last look at Fluffy and then shifted his attention back down to the hole. He took a deep breath and sighed.

'See you when you get down there.'

And with that, Azriel leaped down into the hole and out of sight.


	14. Chapter 13: Malice In Wonderland

**A/N:** I've decided I'm just going to post the rest of the story now just to get it done with, and I can start writing the follow-up. This is the second-to-last chapter, and despite everything I can say that my characters will NOT be saving the day! They're only meant to change the state of play, not to steal the spotlight. ;)

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

* * *

**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 13: Malice In Wonderland

The world was in darkness; Azriel didn't even know how far he was falling, even as he looked up at the trapdoor where his brother was peering down at him as he fell. The freefall seemed to be over as quickly as it had begun, when Azriel landed on his back in something soft and spongy.

As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, Azriel gave a feel for what he had landed on. It felt botanical of origin, so it was obviously some kind of plant. Professor Sprout's protection, Azriel thought idly as he looked back up at Alex.

'There's some sort of plant down here,' Azriel called up to his brother. 'It should be a soft landing; come on and jump down.'

Alex did just that, and moments later the Slytherin was landing not far off from Azriel. Because he had fair warning, Alex landed on his feet having braced himself for the soft landing. As soon as the boy landed, he could hear Fluffy begin to break free of its stupor, growling angrily at having been put to sleep.

They watched as the trapdoor was suddenly slammed shut above them, plunging them into relative darkness. Fluffy had probably swiped the trapdoor shut with one of its paws.

'What is this stuff? I can't see it properly,' Alex said, peering down at his feet through the darkness. Azriel shook his head.

'I don't know. It's probably here to break the fall, but it's probably also Sprout's protection for the Stone.'

'I wouldn't be surprised if we're miles under the school,' Alex remarked, looking up at where the trapdoor was now closed. 'It's lucky this thing's soft.'

'Yeah, lucky –' Azriel began, but when he tried to get up, he found that he couldn't. '- uh oh.'

'Uh oh, what?' Alex asked. Then he found out why.

The plant had begun winding snake-like tendrils around Azriel's limbs while he was sitting, and was now holding him down so he couldn't get up. Similarly, tendrils had begun to coil their way around Alex's legs rooting him to the spot.

The brothers struggled against the plant's snaking vines, but it only seemed to hold onto them tighter, beginning to squeeze. A few tendrils had already found Azriel's throat and were quickly wrapping around it, choking him.

'Alex, help!' Azriel wheezed, trying ineffectively to ward off the tentacular assailant with his telekinesis. 'I can't breathe!'

'Stop moving!' Alex hissed. Azriel wasn't finding that a problem; he was already starting to black out from the lack of oxygen. 'I think I know what this is, it's Devil's Snare.'

'Good - to know. Help – now?' Azriel forced out.

'Hold on, bro!' Alex said. He reached into his robes for his daggers; he found his access partly restricted by the tentacles reaching up around his thighs, but he managed to pull out the daggers and began to slice away at the tendrils, watching them fall away from his body as he cut them.

Once free, he advanced on his brother, hacking and slashing at whatever tried to halt his progress. Upon reaching Azriel, he first sliced through the tentacles that were choking his twin to death, and then he started on the rest of his brother's bindings.

As soon as he was freed, Azriel wrenched himself loose and unsheathed his own daggers. Together, the Drake brothers mercilessly attacked whatever tendrils tried to get in their way as they crossed the room to the door which would lead them to the next room and the next protection.

When they were on the other side of the door away from the Devil's Snare, they took a moment to breathe. Azriel rubbed his throat gingerly, feeling the forming bruises as he looked around at where they'd wound up. They were in a long stone passageway, and from touching the walls it felt damp.

'Thanks Alex,' Azriel said raspily, glancing over at his brother.

'You're welcome,' Alex replied, putting his daggers away. 'You think you'll be alright?'

'Sure, just give me a minute.'

Alex waited a minute for Azriel to recover before they decided it was time to move on; they didn't have time to waste, after all. Alex led the way down the stone passageway; the only sounds they could hear were their own quiet footsteps and the trickling of water seeping down the walls. Alex stopped abruptly when he heard something else.

'Do you hear that?' he whispered, sharply, straining his ears for the noise. Azriel tried to listen as well. He could faintly hear something; it sounded like a soft rustling and clinking, and the noise seemed to be coming from up ahead.

'Do you think it's a ghost, or a poltergeist?' Azriel asked, thinking of some sort of chain or metal being manipulated by a spirit somewhere up ahead.

'Possibly,' Alex replied, 'but I can't hear it making any noises. Anyway, there's light ahead so we should see something shortly.'

They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly-lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy, wooden door.

'Odd sort of protection,' Azriel said bluntly, looking up at the winged creatures. 'Those things don't look remotely threatening.'

'You never know,' Alex said, also looking up. 'These things could swamp you if you tried to cross the room, so that you can't see where you're going.'

'Only one way to find out,' Azriel said, and he stepped into the chamber. When nothing happened, he looked back at Alex, then advanced to the door. He could see the lock on it, and guessed without trying the handle that it would be locked.

'Unlocking charm?' Alex suggested. Azriel shook his head.

'That'd be kid's stuff. For serious protection, you don't want something that just anyone would be able to break through.' Azriel looked back at his brother with a thoughtful expression on his face. 'Although on the other hand, it could be exactly as simple as that, because the protector would believe that a potential thief would dismiss that option as too easy.'

'Try it, anyway,' Alex suggested. Azriel pulled out his wand and muttered the unlocking charm under his breath, but it had no effect. 'Well, so much for that. Here, let me have a look.'

Alex walked over the door and put his eye to the lock. He stared into it for a moment, looking hard for any sign of the mechanism, but he couldn't find it.

'Well, we can't use our Gift to get through this one,' he scowled, and turned around. That's when he saw the broomsticks next to where they'd came in.

'What would you need those for, to try and catch the birds?' Azriel wondered, looking up at the winged creatures filling the chamber. He took a good look at them before he realised. 'Those aren't birds, they're keys!'

'You're right!' Alex agreed, staring up at them. 'This must be Flitwick's doing then.' Alex looked back at his brother. 'He must've charmed the wings onto all those keys, and then Madam Hooch must've supplied a couple of the school brooms.'

'So, we've gotta find the right key.' Azriel went over to the door to re-examine the lock. 'We'll probably want a silver key, to match the lock and the handle. It'll be old-fashioned judging by the lock, and probably big due to the size of the keyhole.'

When he looked back at Alex, he found that the Slytherin was already scanning the mass of winged keys looking for one matching Azriel's description. Azriel joined him a moment later, and it wasn't long before he located what he was after.

'There!' Azriel cried, eyes trained on a particular key which he pointed out to his brother. 'A large silver key, with bright blue wings. Can you see it?'

Alex looked to where his brother was indicating, and he just caught a glimpse of it before it disappeared. He reached his hand out and tried to call it to him using his telekinesis but there were too many keys and he couldn't keep track of it to get a decent pull on it.

'Looks like we're gonna have to use the brooms after all,' Alex grumbled, redirecting his powers to the objects by the door, drawing two of the brooms to him. He handed one to Azriel, and they mounted together. They kicked off in unison, shooting upward and causing the keys to scatter around them.

They flew to opposite ends of the chamber and began circling round the hoard of keys, eyes alert for any sign of the silver key. They spotted it a few times, but it was quickly gone again.

Azriel had his hand outstretched, trying to push all the other keys off to one side with his powers; he was holding onto the broom with his other hand. Alex quickly got the idea and began to do the same.

The silver key became easier to spot as the other keys were forced out of the way by the boys' telekinesis. Hand still outstretched, Alex squinted and glared at the key, trying to pull it toward him with his powers. He released his hold on the other keys so he could focus all his energy on that one key.

With his attention shifted, the other keys tries to swarm back around the silver key to protect it, and Azriel was finding it a little harder to ward them off on his own. Alex was quick though, and he was able to pull the key close enough to him that he shot forward and grabbed it before too many of the other keys could obstruct him. With key in hand, Alex swooped down onto the floor below.

Azriel released the keys from his power as well and joined his brother. The key was struggling in his hands trying to get away; Alex grabbed it with his other hand to get a better grip on it.

'Careful not to crush its wings. We don't want any sign someone's been through here yet.' Azriel said.

'And what about the Devil's Snare?' Alex sniped, forcing the key into the lock. 'I think it would be hard to miss the tentacle salad we left behind.'

'The rest of the plant will probably deal with them,' Azriel said. 'Now turn the key and let's get out of here.'

Alex turned the key and the lock clicked open. Satisfied, he pulled the key back out and released it. It rejoined the others slowly, and was soon lost in the jumble again. Azriel sent the brooms back to where they'd found them, and reached for the handle.

'Ready?' he asked his brother. Alex nodded, and he pulled open the door. It was pitch black on the other side, and they had no idea what to expect once they stepped through.

They proceeded slowly, cautious of anything potentially leaping out at them. Before they stepped to far into the room, light suddenly flooded the space to reveal a completely unexpected sight.

They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. The brothers felt a slight chill – the towering white chessmen had no faces.

'Now what?' Alex asked flatly, while trying to fight the growing feeling of tension in his stomach.

'We don't have time for a game of chess,' Azriel said, glancing over the scene. 'We're just gonna have to bypass this.'

'How are we gonna get through here though? We probably _have_ to play in order to get across.' Alex said, glaring at his brother.

'We jump,' Azriel said simply. Alex stared at him. 'What? We use our powers to propel ourselves up over both chess sets so that we bypass the game entirely.'

'Okay ...' Alex was doubtful over the success this plan would have.

'Now, give me a boost up,' Azriel said. Alex cupped his hands into a step for his brother. Azriel placed his foot on the makeshift step and pushed up, using his powers to do some of the lifting and reducing the strain on Alex.

'Okay, I'm gonna jump on the count of three,' Azriel warned. 'One ... two ... THREE!'

Azriel launched himself up into a backflip in mid-air. Alex jumped to meet him mid-flip, grabbing onto Azriel's hands and flipping himself to keep their momentum going. Together, the brothers used their powers to boost the height of their jump past their natural limit, so the pair cart-wheeled over the top of the black chessmen. They landed together in front of the chess pieces.

Apparently, this turned out to be a huge mistake, because the horse of one of the black nights snorted and whinnied angrily at them, and the brothers had to leap back to avoid the swing of a stone sword, courtesy of one of the black pawns.

'I told you we needed to play our way across!' Alex hissed, dodging the advance of another pawn.

'And _I_ told you we don't have the time for it!' Azriel hissed back, using his telekinesis to turn the sword of yet another pawn back on itself. The pawn was impaled by its own weapon and was destroyed.

The black queen did not take kindly to this treatment of her armed forces, as she made a quick advance with a rapier of her own, charging through the row of pawns in front of her. She swung with force at Azriel, who barely managed to avoid the blow. Unfortunately, he ended up landing right underneath a knight, and he had to roll quickly out of the way to avoid getting trampled by the horse.

'Azriel, help!' Alex called frantically. Azriel looked up to find Alex, daggers drawn and stuck between two more pawns, with the other knight waiting within striking distance, ready to make his move as soon as the boy attacked either of the pawns.

The two pawns struck at Alex at the same time, so Azriel used his telekinesis to redirect their swords while Alex ducked, striking the horse instead as the knight charged in. The animal collapsed, causing the knight to fall off and shatter. Alex nodded his thanks and unleashed his own powers on the two pawns, now free from the risk of being blindsided by a third chess piece.

Azriel was still trying to avoid the black queen, who was getting more violent and rough in her attempts to defeat him, with the remaining knight aiding her every step of the way. Azriel got an idea in his head and ran to the other end of the chess board where the white pieces, until now, had been motionless.

The black pieces stopped a couple of squares back from the white pieces on the chess board, not wanting to advance because they would be outnumbered by the white forces, with a large risk of being attacked and defeated. Azriel felt slightly comforted by his discovery.

'Alex, get to the other side! The black pieces won't follow you!' He called. Alex fled from a rook that tried to fall upon him; the rook hit the chess board and shattered, having failed to land on its target. The Slytherin joined his brother a moment later and they stood in relative safety where the black pieces would not tread.

The brothers turned around to find that their way was barred by the white pawns. While they had made no move to attack them, the white pawns had crossed their swords across each other, stopping them from advancing since they'd chosen not to play as they had been supposed to.

Azriel looked back at the black pieces, which were all gathering in force behind the queen. They were starting to advance, now that they had put up a united front and stood a better chance against the white pieces.

'Uh oh ...' Alex said, noticing the same thing. They were trapped now; the black pieces would surely finish them off, and the white pieces were blocking off the only escape route they had.

It was a surprise then, when the white pawns broke formation and began to fight against the black pieces. At it had happened, the natural rivalry between white and black caused the white pieces to bypass the twins when the enemy crossed into their territory.

The Drake brothers were caught in the middle of all the breaking stone as pieces were destroyed. A knight leaped over their heads to joust with the remaining black knight while the white rooks joined the white pawns as reinforcements. The bishops of both sides had so far refrained from joining in the battle; staying on the sidelines ready to lend aid to their respective sides should they need it.

Alex leapt out of the way of a white rook which slammed full force into the black king, knocking them both over and causing them to shatter with the others. He recovered quickly and rejoined Azriel who was ducking under the white king's sword, which the chess piece was using to attack what was left of the black pawns.

Azriel then spotted a gap now that the pieces had all moved out from their starting positions.

'Make a break for it!' he hissed to Alex, and he lunged at the opening. Alex followed behind, and they slipped through just as the black queen made a rapid advance on them. The black queen's rapier missed them, and they bolted for the door. The last thing Azriel saw when he looked back was the white queen running the black queen through with her own rapier, and the black queen falling to pieces as the door closed behind them.

'This is all your fault,' Alex growled. 'It's gonna be hard to miss an entire chess set in pieces. We should've just played our way across like we were meant to.'

'You know we don't have the time for that. What would've happened if Snape had shown up mid-game?' Azriel retorted, and made his way down the new passageway. Alex followed behind, scowling.

'Who do we still have left?' Azriel said, changing the subject. 'We've faced Fluffy, Sprout had the Devil's Snare, Hooch and Flitwick did the keys... I'd guess that chess set just then was McGonagall's idea. Which leaves Quirrell's spell, Snape's potion and Dumbledore's... whatever he did.'

By the time he'd finished speaking, they had reached another door. Alex pressed his ear to the wood and tried to listen to what was on the other side. He could make out some low grunting noises.

'There's something in there,' he whispered to Azriel, who also tried to listen to the creature behind the door. 'I'm about to open the door.'

Alex opened the door and almost immediately he wished he hadn't because the brothers were met with a foul stench. The source of the stench was not hard to determine; a mountain troll was standing in the room with its back to them, not having heard the door opening behind it.

It did notice, however, when its room was invaded; with a startled roar it whirled around and tried to beat the intruders away with its club.

'Is everything guarding this Stone designed to try and kill us?' Azriel asked, exasperated, as he jumped out of the path of the troll's club. Alex had jumped in the opposite direction, confusing the troll for a few seconds as it tried to decide which one to attack again. It was further confused to see the same boy twice, not realising it wasn't actually seeing double.

'The keys were fairly harmless,' Alex replied, as the troll decided he was the better target, and he rolled under the troll's club as it swung horizontally at him.

'Unless you fell off one of the broomsticks,' Azriel said. 'Falling from that height onto stone? Not so good on the bones.'

'Point,' Alex huffed as he ducked behind the troll to confuse it further. 'Now you're gonna help me with this club.'

Azriel got the idea right away; he and Alex linked hands and willed the club out of the troll's hands. It stopped abruptly when it realised it was suddenly weaponless, and it looked up at its floating club in wonder.

This turned out to be a huge mistake for the troll, because its distraction offered the brothers time to manoeuvre the club so it smashed into the back of the troll's head, knocking it out cold.

'That was relatively easy,' Azriel said, making straight for the door forward.

'The next ones probably won't be. Like you said, these protections seem designed to kill,' Alex said. They stepped through the door and let it close behind them, grateful to be away from the troll's disgusting smell.

The next room was fairly small, and almost empty; except for a small round wooden table, upon which seven differently-shaped bottles were stood up in a line.

'This will be Snape's, then,' Alex said, ignoring the fact that it was glaringly obvious. They stepped over the threshold and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It wasn't ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onwards. They were trapped.

'Well, _this_ just keeps getting better and better,' Azriel said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. It was then that he noticed the roll of paper lying in front of the row of bottles. He picked it up, and with Alex looking over his shoulder, they read it:

_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_

_Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,_

_One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

_Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

_Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_

_Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line._

_Choose, unless you wish to stay here forevermore,_

_To help you in your choice, we give you these clues four:_

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_

_You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;_

_Second, different are those who stand who stand at either end,_

_But if you would move onward, neither is your friend;_

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

_Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_

_Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_

_Are twins once you taste then, though different at first sight._

'This almost isn't magic at all,' Alex exclaimed. 'This is a logic puzzle!'

'Clever, indeed,' Azriel mused. 'Plenty of great wizards are acclaimed purely for their magical ability; they haven't got a shred of logic to their name. They'd be stuck in here forever.'

'Not us though,' Alex added. 'We've got everything we need to know right here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison, two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire and one will get us back through the purple one.'

'Well, we only need one, don't we?' Azriel said. 'We're both going forward, so we're looking for a specific potion.'

Azriel stared at the potion bottles for a minute, doing mental calculations. After a minute, he picked up the third bottle from the left triumphantly.

'It's this one!' he said. 'From left to right, the bottles are: Poison, Wine, Forward, Poison, Poison, Wine, Back.' Alex took a minute to go over the logic puzzle himself just to be sure.

'Yep; you're right. This is the potion,' he agreed. 'Now, we need to hurry up and drink some. I have a feeling dinner will be over by now, and I don't want to still be around here if Snape decides it's time to come collect.'

Azriel held the bottle up to his eye-line and took a good look at its contents.

'There's probably some enchantment on the bottle so that it can contain more than it appears to,' he said. 'Otherwise, there's only enough in this thing for one mouthful.' He looked over at his brother, who also examined the bottle.

'That, or it's self-refilling,' Alex suggested. 'You first.'

Azriel uncorked the bottle and downed the potion like a shot. Immediately he felt a chill go up his spine; it felt like ice was coursing through him. He took a breath at the shock of sensation.

'You alright?' Alex asked immediately.

'Sure, just feeling a bit cold.' Azriel replied. He looked down at the bottle; it had refilled itself with potion after all. Azriel handed it over to Alex, who downed another mouthful of the potion. Azriel watched carefully for signs of the effects.

'You're right!' Alex said. 'It does feel sort of like ice.' He walked toward the black fire.

'I can't feel it,' Alex said, looking back at Azriel. 'The heat from the fire, it's not there.'

'Good. But we'd better hurry up and get through that fire before this potion wears off.' Alex nodded and walked through the fire out of sight. Azriel couldn't see through the flames, so he stepped cautiously through.

The ice potion or whatever it was had a definite effect; he could see the black flames against his skin and all over his clothes, but he felt nothing from them, and his clothes were completely unharmed. For a moment, he could see nothing but dark fire – then he was on the other side, in the last chamber.

Alex was waiting on the other side, looking at him expectantly.

'Last chamber. The Stone's gotta be in here somewhere, so let's find it,' he said. They turned into the room and the first object they laid their eyes on was a majestic mirror.

Standing halfway to the ceiling in the centre of the room, the mirror bore an ornate golden frame, and stood on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved along the top: _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

'Pretty mirror,' said Alex idly, as he surveyed the room. 'I can't imagine it being too important though; it's gotta be some form of distraction.'

Azriel was meanwhile studying the inscription on the mirror. It took him a few moments to figure out what it mean but once he did, he chuckled.

'I show not your face but your heart's desire,' he said. 'Clever.'

Alex joined him to study the mirror. 'What do you see in it then, if it shows your heart's desire?' he asked.

Azriel took a quick glance into the glass, and felt a pang in his heart at the reflected image. 'I see home. You and me, back in America, with our parents.'

'I know,' said Alex quietly, 'I see that too. But we can't dwell on that; we need to get onto finding that stone before Snape gets here.'

Azriel stepped away from the mirror and looked around the room. The circular chamber had eight pillars supporting the ceiling, and the walls were made up of stone bricks. He approached one section of the wall and examined the wall's texture.

'We probably should be looking for any sort of hidden switch or compartment. The stone has to be here somewhere, and that mirror has definitely got to be some form of distraction.'

'But what if your heart's desire is to find the stone?' Alex pointed out.

'Snape's heart's desire would probably be to gain himself power and standing with Voldemort,' Azriel replied with a shake of his head, 'the stone itself would only be a means to an end.'

Azriel spied what he determined to be a loose stone. 'Help me with this, won't you?'

Alex joined his brother at the wall; he could see the brick in question. He tried to help Azriel pry the stone from its position with his hands but when that proved ineffective, the brothers teamed up their telekinesis.

The stone gave a lurch and the brothers stumbled back attempting to avoid falling backwards. They peered into the hole created by the loosened stone and were disappointed to find that there was nothing behind it.

'Well that was a bust,' Alex said bitterly, 'that was the only tricky spot anywhere along this wall, and it was a dead end.'

'We've got to be missing something,' replied Azriel as he returned to the mirror, 'they wouldn't go to all this trouble with all the layers of protection only for the final room to be a red herring.'

'But what if that was the point?' Alex asked. 'All this protection suggests that there's actually something to find at the end of the road, what if that's just what Dumbledore wants Snape to think? If Dumbledore knew there was actually something here, I'm not sure an urgent summons to the Ministry would be enough to make him just leave. I think he'd want to be here to keep an eye for himself on anyone trying to get past Fluffy.'

'No, it's _got_ to be here. Dumbledore's been subtly interfering with Harry and the others, helping them along. Obviously he hasn't done the same for us since we didn't need the help, but he wouldn't be steering them toward the stone if he knew there was nothing to be found here. We just have to keep looking.'

'Where else is there to look?' Alex glared at his brother. 'I told you, we've already covered the entire room and there's nothing here except the mirror.'

Azriel looked at the mirror again. He walked around the gold object, scanning up and down its frame. He stopped and looked back at Alex.

'What if the mirror's the key?' Azriel asked. Alex stared blankly at him. 'Go with me on this one. We've assumed that the mirror's meant to be a distraction – but Dumbledore's cleverer than that. There's got to be a trick to the mirror, we just need to figure out what it is!'

'The mirror show's the deepest desire of our hearts, but neither of us sees the stone. We see ourselves back at home,' Alex pointed out. 'How are we supposed to figure out the stone from that?'

Azriel stook back in front of the mirror and looked once again at his heart's desire, as reflected by the mirror. Once again, he saw Alex and himself standing in the dining room of their American home, with their parents sitting at the table and Anyanka resting by the door. All of them were smiling out at the brothers in the chamber, showing how happy they were to be all together again.

That was when Azriel saw it; a bulge in his mirror counterpart's pocket that he hadn't noticed before. The mirror Azriel winked at his real-life opposite and pulled an object out of his pocket – the real Azriel gasped quietly as he saw what was reflected in the mirror. A blood-red stone with crudely cut edges was shining out at them from the mirror Azriel's hand.

'That's –' Azriel began.

'I'm afraid I'm going to have to break up this little party,' said a cold, smooth voice. In their surprise, the twins jerked around. The mirror Azriel dropped the stone from his hand in shock, and the image stone disappeared before it hit the reflected floor. Since no-one was now looking into the mirror, the image faded.

'You're not Snape!' Alex breathed, wide-eyed.

'No,' replied Professor Quirrell, 'I'm not.'


	15. Chapter 14: As It Seems

**A/N:** Last chapter; I should be starting to write the next story soon, based on Chamber Of Secrets. The next story should diverge a little more from the original plot, since this story kept incredibly close to the original storyline.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters; those all belong solely to JK Rowling. Due to the nature of this story, sections of the text have been copied verbatim from the original text; the idea being that a ripple effect causes events within the universe to diverge from the original storyline. Being that this is the first story, everything is more or less canon, but as the stories progress, they will shift further and further away from the books. As for what I do own, I own the Drake family and all related characters. I also own the concept of Gifts as they're used in this story.

* * *

**DRAKE: The Philosopher's Stone**

CHAPTER 14: As It Seems

'To be honest I expected it to be Potter who would be trying to thwart me,' said Quirrell silkily, without any trace of the characteristic stutter that had seemingly plagued him throughout the year, 'I admit you're much cleverer than you let on although I should have suspected, what with your Gift.'

'You weren't who we were expecting either,' admitted Azriel with a snarl, 'but there's no way we're gonna let you get that stone.'

Quirrell only chuckled in response; 'I don't need you to 'let' me do anything. I'm just going to get you out of the way and take it!'

'If you can even find it,' said Alex. Quirrell turned a critical eye to the short-haired twin.

'What do you know, boy? Tell me!' Quirrell demanded. Alex stood stone-faced, glaring darkly at the dark wizard who had posed as their teacher. 'TELL ME!' Quirrell demanded louder.

When neither Drake twin appeared forthcoming with any more information, Quirrell's patience ran out very quickly. He pulled his wand out uttered a quick curse as he pointed it at the brothers.

Neither brother had time to respond as the curse flung them backwards through the air. They each hit a support pillar with enough force to snap their heads back sharply into the stone, knocking them senseless.

Azriel could feel blood seeping into his hair and down his face, and he knew damage had been done to his head upon impact. Looking over at Alex blearily, he thought he could depict similar injuries on his counterpart.

'This mirror is key to finding the stone...' Quirrell muttered to himself as he gazed at the ornate gold object in the centre of the room. 'Tell me, what did you see in it?'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' Azriel spat with as much venom as he could muster while fighting the urge to black out from blood loss.

'Don't be a fool, Drake. You had to have looked in the mirror. What – did – you – see?' Quirrell stressed each individual word as he repeated the question.

'Really not in a position to see anything too clearly right now,' Alex chuckled bitterly.

'Your insolence will cost,' Quirrell hissed, and with another wave of his wand the brothers were again flung through the air, this time hitting the outer walls. Azriel remembered slamming into the wall and sliding down onto the floor as the second impact forced him into unconsciousness.

Azriel could feel himself drifting back into consciousness slowly; he wasn't sure how long it had been, but he figured it couldn't have been long because his face felt sticky with caked blood. He could hear voices, so he attempted to open his eyes. One voice was that of Quirrell; the other, Azriel was sure he knew but his thoughts were a little too foggy for him to place. His vision was fuzzy, but he gathered that they were still in the chamber.

It took a few moments for the image to begin clearing up, once his vision cleared more, he realised who the second voice belonged to; the other figure in the room was Potter, and it seemed he was in Quirrell's clutches.

'Sometimes,' Quirrell was saying, not noticing that Azriel was now awake, 'I find it hard to follow my master's instructions – he is a great wizard and I am weak –' Azriel tried to summon his telekinesis and found that he too was weak; too weak to make his power work.

'You mean he was there in the classroom with you?' Potter gasped. This didn't make sense to Azriel; he was sure there were only two people in that room, Quirrell and Snape.

'He is with me wherever I go,' said Quirrell quietly. 'I met him when I travelled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it ... Since then, I have served him faithfully, although I have let him down many times. He has had to be very hard on me.' Quirrell shivered suddenly.

'He does not forgive mistakes easily. When I failed to steal the stone from Gringotts, he was most displeased. He punished me ... decided he would have to keep a closer watch on me ...'

Azriel watched the emotions of shock and realisation pass over Potter's face from where he stood, bound with magical ropes. At this time his thoughts were a little too cloudy to put the pieces together but he thought he should know something about this.

His attention was brought back to the evil wizard when Quirrell cursed under his breath. 'I don't understand ... is the stone _inside_ the mirror? Should I break it?'

Azriel's mind was working clearly enough to know that it would not be a good thing at all if the mirror were to be broken, because then there would be no clue to helping him find the stone. He didn't realise in his haze that if this were to occur then not even Quirrell may succeed in finding it.

Unconsciousness threatened to swallow Azriel again as he saw Potter attempt to look in the mirror without Quirrell noticing. Why he was doing this, Azriel wasn't sure as he returned to darkness.

When he next came too, Azriel's head was even more fuzzy as the blood loss became worse. All he could remember seeing from his hazy vision was a chalk-white face with glaring red eyes. He couldn't see the face clearly but he couldn't shake the sight of those eyes from his mind.

'Harry Potter ...' it whispered in a horrible high voice, halfway between a whisper and a shriek. The voice sent chills through Azriel as he tried desperately to clear his head and focus on the words.

'See what I have become?' the face said. 'Mere shadow and vapour ... I have form only when I can share another's body...' What did that mean? Was something possessing Quirrell? Was Snape actually behind this after all, and using the fellow teacher as his pawn?

'There have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds ... Unicorn blood has strengthened me, these part weeks ... you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest ... and once I have the Elixir of Life, I will be able to create a body of my own ... Now ... why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket?'

Potter has the stone? Azriel thought fuzzily. How? He blacked out again after this, and did not find out the result of this exchange.

Azriel once again drifted into consciousness when he felt someone moving him. Blearily, he opened his eyes to find he was still in the chamber, but this time Bookworm was there, alongside Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall. He did not fight as he was lifted onto a magical stretcher.

'Bookworm –' Azriel wheezed looking over at Hermione who was helping lift Harry onto another stretcher, 'it was – Quirrell –'

'We know,' said Bookworm, beckoning to the purple turban she held in her hands. Quirrell was nowhere in sight, and all Azriel could see apart from the rescue team was a pile of crumbled rock and ash.

'The – stone?'

'The stone is safe once again,' Dumbledore spoke up, and Azriel dragged his gaze over to the wizened old wizard. 'It will be dealt with accordingly in due time. Rest now, Azriel.'

For now Azriel was okay with what he knew of the situation, so he heeded Dumbledore's advice and rested as he was taken out of the chamber and back into the rest of the castle.

Azriel found himself staring at a high sloped ceiling when he next opened his eyes. He sat up and felt his hair falling around his shoulders, and realised that at some point his ribbon had been removed from his head.

His memory of recent events was hazy for some reason, and he pondered what had happened as he looked around. He found he was sitting in a bed in the middle of some hospital ward; this must be the Hospital Wing, he mused idly.

To his left Alex lay dormant, and Azriel had a brief flash of memory where he and Alex were magically thrown into a wall. Azriel reached back behind his head to feel for a bump but found none, and he guessed whatever injury he sustained had been healed.

Azriel's attention was brought to his right where Dumbledore was handing a pair of glasses to Potter who was just coming back to consciousness himself.

'Good afternoon, Harry,' said Dumbledore. Potter stared blankly, but then by the sudden change in his expression, something must have suddenly come to him.

'Sir! The Stone! It was Quirrell! He's got the Stone! Sir, quick –'

'No, he doesn't,' Azriel spoke up, his memory rushing back to him. 'I'm not sure what exactly happened, but Quirrell's gone. I remember seeing his turban when we were carried out of the chamber.' Azriel glanced up at Dumbledore as if to seek confirmation of that memory.

'Yes Harry, relax please. Quirrell indeed is not in possession of the Stone.' Dumbledore said soothingly.

'Then who does?' Azriel asked. 'You said it was safe and that it would be dealt with accordingly, but you didn't say who had it.'

'Relax please, the both of you, or Madam Pomfrey will have me thrown out.'

Potter seemed to relax at this, and took a moment to look around the room. He stopped on a large assortment of sweets stacked up at his bedside. Azriel hadn't recalled seeing that when he looked around the room.

'Tokens from your friends and admirers,' said Dumbledore to Potter, beaming. He then addressed both boys. 'What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows. I believe Misters Fred and George Weasley were responsible for trying to send through a lavatory seat. No doubt they thought it would be amusing. Madam Pomfrey, however, felt it might not be very hygienic, and confiscated it.'

'How long have we been in here?' Azriel asked.

'Three days. Mr Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come around, they have been extremely worried.'

'But sir, the Stone –' Potter started.

'I see you are not to be distracted, Harry. Very well, the Stone. Professor Quirrell did not manage to take it from you. I arrived in time to prevent that, although you were doing very well on your own, I must say.'

'You got there? You got Hermione's owl?' Potter asked. Azriel didn't know Bookworm had even sent an owl, and figured this might have occurred after Azriel and Alex went through the trap door.

'We must have crossed in mid-air,' Dumbledore responded, 'No sooner had I reached London than it became clear to me that the place I should be was the one I had just left. I arrived just in time to pull Quirrell off you –'

'It was _you_.' Potter said.

'I feared I might be too late.'

'You nearly were,' Potter said, 'I couldn't have kept him off the Stone much longer –'

'Not the Stone, boy, you – the effort involved nearly killed you. For one terrible moment there, I was afraid it had. As for the Stone, it has been destroyed.'

'Destroyed?' Azriel perked up in alarm. 'But – Nicolas Flamel –'

'Oh, you know about Nicolas?' said Dumbledore, sounding quite delighted. 'You _did_ do the thing properly, didn't you?'

'Alex and I grew up with the story of Nicolas and the Stone as a bedtime story,' Azriel pointed out. 'How'd you figure it out?' he asked Potter.

'I found the reference on Dumbledore's Famous Witches & Wizards card,' Potter replied.

'Well, you are both resourceful, I'll give you that.' Dumbledore chuckled. 'Nicolas and I had a little chat and agreed that destroying the stone was for the best.'

'But that means he and his wife will die,' Azriel stated.

'They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die.' Dumbledore smiled at the look of amazement on Potter's face. Azriel just felt confused.

'To one as young as yourselves, I'm sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, _very_ long day. After all, to the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most humans would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things which are worst for them.'

Potter lay back, apparently lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and smiled at the ceiling.

'Sir?' said Potter. 'I've been thinking ... Sir – even if the Stone's gone, Vol – I mean, You-Know-You –'

'Voldemort,' Azriel interjected. 'We went through this before, it's only a name.'

'Azriel is right,' Dumbledore agreed. 'Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.'

'Lucky I'd never heard of him before,' Azriel said dryly.

'Yes, well. Voldemort's going to try other ways of coming back, isn't he? I mean, he hasn't gone, has he?' Potter asked, visibly trying to find some sense in his thoughts.

'No, Harry, he has not. He is still out there somewhere, perhaps looking for another body to share ... not being truly alive, he cannot be killed. He left Quirrell to die; he shows just as little mercy to his followers as he does his enemies.'

'Wait, Voldemort was sharing a body with Quirrell?' Azriel asked.

'Voldemort was hiding under Quirrell's turban on the back of his head,' explained Potter. 'That was the source of the odd smell hanging around that thing. His face...' Potter shuddered; Azriel was reminded of the face he'd seen in the chamber and figured that this must have been the second face of Professor Quirrell.

'Nevertheless, Harry,' Dumbledore resumed, 'while you may only have delayed his return to power, it will merely take someone else who is prepared to fight what seems a losing battle next time – and if he is delayed again, and again, why, he may never return to power.'

'Well if it's fighters you need, Alex and I will be there every step of the way,' Azriel said bravely. 'This is exactly the thing we've been training for, with our Gifts and with our weapons.'

'And formidable warriors I'm sure you will make,' Dumbledore replied, 'however it will take more than special abilities and brute force to defeat Voldemort. It will take resourcefulness and courage.'

'Well, Alex is a Slytherin. I doubt resourcefulness will be an issue,' Azriel said dryly, which brought a twinkle to Dumbledore's eye.

'In time I'm sure you will prove to be everything you aspire to be and more. Your Gift is still developing as you know, Azriel. I have seen examples of your ability and it is already far beyond what I may have expected for one of your age. You and your twin may prove to be the most powerful of your kind once your powers have reached maturity.'

'Really?' Azriel breathed. 'I had no idea – I mean, sure, our Dad is pretty powerful but – you really think Alex and I could be the most powerful telekinetics in the world?'

'We will see, in time,' Dumbledore said with finality.

It took some persuasion on Potter's part, but Red and Bookworm were later allowed to visit by Madam Pomfrey. By this time, Alex had awoken, and Azriel had filled him in on everything he, Potter and Dumbledore had discussed before.

It began with Bookworm calling out Potter's name as the two Gryffindors approached their friend.

'Oh, Harry, we were sure you were going to – Dumbledore was so worried –'

'The whole school's talking about it,' said Red, 'What _really_ happened?'

As Potter and Azriel relayed their accounts of the events down in the chamber, it became clear that the true story was even more strange and exciting than the rumours that were apparently circulating. Potter told them everything he knew: Quirrell; the Mirror; the Stone and Voldemort, and Azriel described how he and Alex had passed the various challenges before Harry and the others had arrived.

Red and Bookworm were a very good audience; they gasped in all the right places, and when Potter told them what had been hiding under Quirrell's turban, Bookworm screamed out loud.

'So the Stone's gone?' said Red finally. 'Flamel's just going to _die_?'

'Afraid so,' Azriel replied. 'What was it Dumbledore said? "To the well-organised mind, death is but the next great adventure".'

'I always said he was off his rocker,' said Red, looking quite impressed at how mad his hero was.

'So what happened to you?' Alex asked Red and Bookworm.

'Well, I got back all right,' said Bookworm. 'I brought Ron round – that took a while – and we were dashing to the owlery to contact Dumbledore when we met him in the entrance hall. He already knew – he just said, "Harry's gone after him, hasn't he?" and hurtled off to the third floor. We didn't know you and Azriel had even come down yourselves until we found you.'

'What, were you so worried about yourselves you missed that we weren't at dinner that night?' Alex chuckled. Bookworm flushed but did not say anything else.

'D'you think he meant for you to do it, Harry?' said Red. 'Sending you your father's cloak and everything?'

'_Well_,' Bookworm exploded, 'if he did – I mean to say – that's terrible – you could have been killed.'

'We went there too,' Alex interjected, 'and we didn't have official sanctioning from the headmaster.'

'It could just as easily have been you,' Bookworm replied severely.

'I don't think it's terrible,' Potter said thoughtfully. 'He's a funny man, Dumbledore. I think he sort of wanted to give me a chance. I think he knows more or less everything that goes on here, you know.'

'If he knew Azriel and I were snooping as well, he certainly didn't let on,' Alex said.

'Whether or not he was aware of _your_ activities,' Potter said, 'I reckon he had a pretty good idea _we _were going to try, and instead of stopping us, he just taught us enough to help. I don't think it was an accident he let me figure out how the mirror worked. It's almost like he thought I had the right to face Voldemort if I –'

'Wait, when did you figure out the mirror?' Azriel asked.

'I've known about it since Christmas,' Potter replied. 'I found it one night, when I was trying out the cloak.'

'Dumbledore's barking, all right,' said Red proudly, bringing the conversation back to the current topic. 'Listen, you've got to be up for the end-of-year feast tomorrow. The points are all in and Slytherin won, of course – you missed the last Quidditch match, we were steamrolled by Ravenclaw without you – but the food'll be good.'

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey bustled over.

'You've had nearly fifteen minutes, now OUT,' she said firmly.

After a good night's sleep, all three hospital-bound students felt nearly back to normal.

'We want to go to the feast,' Alex told Madam Pomfrey as she straightened Potter's many sweet boxes. 'We can, can't we?'

'Professor Dumbledore says you are all to be allowed to go,' she said sniffily, as though in her opinion Professor Dumbledore didn't realise how risky feasts could be. 'And you have another visitor, Mister Potter.'

'Oh good,' said Potter. 'Who is it?'

Hagrid sidled through the door as Potter spoke. As usual when he was indoors, he looked too big to be allowed. He sat down next to Potter, took one look at him and burst into tears.

'It's – all – my – ruddy – fault!' he sobbed, his face in his hands. 'I told the evil git how ter get past Fluffy! I told him! It was the only thing he didn't know an' I told him! Yeh could've died! All fer a dragon egg! I'll never drink again! I should be chucked out an' made ter live as a Muggle!'

The Drake brothers felt a tad uncomfortable witnessing the half-giant's embarrassing behaviour and wanted nothing more than to be elsewhere as Potter tried to console him.

'Hagrid!' said Potter, 'Hagrid, he'd have found out somehow, this is Voldemort we're talking about, he'd have found out even if you hadn't told him.'

'Yeh could've died!' sobbed Hagrid. 'An' don' say the name!'

'Oh for god's sake!' Alex muttered, rolling his eyes.

'His name is VOLDEMORT!' Azriel bellowed. 'Does _everyone_ avoid his name around here?' Hagrid was so shocked at this outburst that he stopped crying.

'Please cheer up, Hagrid, we saved the Stone, it's gone, he can't use it. Have a Chocolate Frog, I've got loads ...'

Hagrid wiped his nose on the back of his hand and said, 'That reminds me. I've got yeh a present.'

'It's not a stoat sandwich, is it?' said Potter anxiously and at last Hagrid gave a weak chuckle, missing the Drake twins' grimace at the mention of this particular delicacy.

'Nah. Dumbledore gave me the day off yesterday ter fix it. 'Course, he shoulda sacked me instead – anyway, got yeh this ...'

Hagrid gave Potter a handsome, leather-covered book. The Drake twins couldn't see what was inside from their respective beds but whatever it was seemed to capture Potter's full attention as he flipped raptly through the pages.

'Sent owls off ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos ... Knew yeh didn' have any ... D'yeh like it?'

Potter didn't respond but Hagrid must have understood some unspoken sentiment.

Azriel and Alex accompanied Potter down to the end-of-year feast after finally getting past Madam Pomfrey's fussing about, insisting on giving them all one last check-up, so the Great Hall was already full. It was decked out with Slytherin colours of green and silver to celebrate Slytherin's winning the house cup for the seventh year in a row. A huge banner showing the Slytherin serpent covered the wall behind the High Table.

When the trio walked in there was a sudden hush and then everybody started talking loudly at once. Azriel figured most of this had to do with Potter but wouldn't have been surprised if some of it were about himself and Alex. Alex broke off to join the Slytherins; he was reasonably well-received due to his house's high spirits. Potter slipped into a seat between Red and Bookworm, and Azriel took a seat on Bookworm's other side next to Neville. Potter seemed to be trying to ignore the people who stood up to look at him.

Fortunately, Dumbledore arrived moments later, and the babble died away.

'Another year gone!' Dumbledore said cheerfully. 'And I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are all a little fuller than they were ... you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts ...

'Now, as I understand it, the house cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus: in fourth place, Gryffindor, with three hundred and twelve points; in third, Hufflepuff, with three hundred and fifty-two; Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty-six and Slytherin, four hundred and seventy-two.'

A storm of cheering and stamping broke out from the Slytherin table. Looking over, Azriel could see Draco banging on the table, and further down the table Alex was joining in the applause out of house loyalty.

'Yes, yes, well done, Slytherin,' said Dumbledore. 'However, recent events must be taken into account.' Azriel caught his brother's eye and the pair raised twin eyebrows at each other. Around them, the room went very still. The Slytherins' smiles faded a little.

'Ahem, said Dumbledore. 'I have a few last-minute points to dish out. Let me see. Yes ...

'First – to Mr Ronald Weasley ...' Red went purple in the face; he looked like a radish with bad sunburn.

' ... for the best-played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.'

Gryffindor cheers nearly raised the bewitched ceiling; the stars overhead seemed to quiver. Red's older brother Percy could be heard telling the other prefects, 'My brother, you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!' Azriel could only whistle in surprise at the steep amount that had been awarded. At last there was silence again.

'Second – to Miss Hermione Granger ... for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points.'

Bookworm buried her face in her arms; Azriel suspected the shock had caused the girl to burst into tears. Gryffindors up and down the table were beside themselves – they were a hundred points up.

'Third – to Mr Harry Potter ...' said Dumbledore. The room went deadly quiet. '... for pure nerve and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house sixty points.'

The din was deafening. Those who could add up while yelling themselves hoarse knew that Gryffindor now had four hundred and seventy-two points – exactly the same as Slytherin. They had drawn for the house cup – if only Dumbledore had given Potter just one more point. The situation was not lost on Alex, who had realised that this new development was costing his house their victory.

Dumbledore raised his hand. The room gradually fell silent.

'Fourth – to Mr Azriel Drake and Mr Alexander Drake ... for initiative, daring and creativity while independently striving to succeed in the face of crisis, I award both Slytherin and Gryffindor houses sixty points each.'

Azriel grinned at Dumbledore's recognition of his and Alex's actions, but the smile quickly froze on his face when he realised that the two houses were still tied. His grin fell as he surveyed the reactions of those around the table; they didn't know what to make of it.

'Finally,' Dumbledore spoke up, bringing the attention back to him. 'There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.'

Azriel had a feeling where this was going, and he looked over at Neville.

'I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom,' Dumbledore concluded. Someone standing outside the Great Hall might well have thought some kind of explosion had taken place, so loud was the noise that erupted from the Gryffindor table. Azriel joined Potter, Red and Bookworm as they stood up to yell and cheer for Neville, who while white with shock was buried under a pile of people hugging him. He had never won so much as a point for Gryffindor before. Azriel noticed Draco sitting over at the Slytherin table looking stunned and horrified. Alex was watching Draco's reaction in amusement, despite having just lost himself.

'Which means,' Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, 'we need a little change of decoration.'

He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking McGonagall's hand, with a horrible forced smile. He seemed to catch Potter's eye and whatever dislike he held for the boy was still as apparent as ever. Azriel thought nothing of this, being too caught up in the moment of his house's victory.

Exam results soon arrived; it seemed like Potter and Red had forgotten they were coming until they were delivered. Somewhat surprisingly, Potter and Red had both passed with good marks. Bookworm had been beside herself when she found out that after all her hard work and brilliant results she was only third from the top of the class – the Drake brothers had jointly outranked her for the top two positions on that list. Even Neville scraped through; his good Herbology mark making up for his abysmal Potions one.

They had been hoping that Goyle, who was almost as stupid as he was mean, might be thrown out, but he had passed, too. It was a shame, but as Red said, you couldn't have everything in life.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays. As registered Gift-bearers, Azriel and Alex were still allowed to practice and develop their telekinesis during the holiday break.

Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three quarters at King's Cross Station.

It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles. Potter, Red and Bookworm went through the barrier first; Azriel and Alex went through next followed by Neville. Wherever Draco had gone, the Drake brothers didn't know but neither really cared.

Azriel and Alex bid the others farewell as they were greeted personally by their father, who took them back to the Ministry of Magic building so they could floo back home to America. The twins were already beginning to miss Hogwarts, even after initially being opposed to studying abroad, and while they were glad to be returning home, they were already beginning to look forward to their return.


End file.
